wmh 
mm' 


m 


mk^iMMixMi^,: 


3 


.:^ 


'\ 


'J:iilvj-j'J  ' 

■JJlJJi^.ViUl- 

"i 

aWEUNIVER% 

> 

>v>^^^ 

;v 

QQ 


AcOFCAllFO/?^^  ,^MEUNIVER% 


.>clOSANCElfj> 


s.>;lOSANCElfj> 


^^ARY^^ 


1 


3a 


'^d/oj; 


■c 

Or 


xKLuyANGElfj> 
o 


3 


DO 


<oaj,\;.'<irjvv> 


^OfCAllFO% 


\r 


'— )        ft: 


<-  i? 


.^OFCAIIF0%, 


>- 

Cr- 

^  29 


nM-UBRA'^^ 


,^WE•UNIVERS/A 


>:lOSANCElfj> 


A^OFCALIFO/?^ 


^OAavaaii^ 


,^WEl)NIVERV^ 


^lOSANCElfj> 


%a3AiNn]WV 


^>clOSANGELfj> 


^^UIBRARYQ^         ^ILIBRARYQ^ 


<A\^E 


NARRATIVES 


OF    REMARKABLE 


GEIMINAL    TRIALS, 


TRANSLATED  FBOM  THE   GERMAN   OF 

ANSELM   RITTER   VON   FEUERBACH, 


LADY  DUFF  GORDON. 


N  E  W  -  Y  0  R  K  : 
HARPER  &  BROTHERS,  PUBLISHERS, 

62   CLIFF    STREET. 

1846. 


PREFACE. 


The  following  trials  are  selected  and  abridged 
from  a  work  consisting  of  1300  closely-printed 
pages,  by  Anselm  Ritter  von  Feuerbach,  a  man 
celebrated  as  a  judge,  a  legislator,  and  a  writer. 
He  was  for  many  years  President  of  the  highest 
criminal  court  of  Bavaria,  and  the  penal  code  of 
that  country  was  chiefly  framed  by  him ;  his 
exposition  of  the  criminal  law  is  a  text-book  for 
the  whole  of  Germany,  where  the  present  work, 
which  was  the  last  he  wrote,  excited  great  at- 
tention. 

For  ten  years  Feuerbach  was  President  of 
the  Central  Criminal  Court  of  a  province  of 
Bavaria,  containing  several  towns,  and  inhabited 
by  half  a  million  of  souls  differing  in  faith.  In 
the  exercise  of  his  judicial  functions  many  re- 
markable cases  were  brought  before  him,  and 
ample  opportunity  was  afforded  him,  by  the 
form  of  criminal  procedure  in  Bavaria,  for  the 
exercise  of  his  extraordinary  power  of  penetra- 
ting the  recesses  of  the  human  heart,  and  of 
divining  the  secret  motives  of  human  action. 
In  Bavaria,  on  the  discovery  of  any  crime,  the 
Untersuchungs  Richter  (examining  judge) — 
and  Feuerbach  himself  once  filled  that  office, 
which,  in  fact,  combines  the  duties  of  public 


IV  PKEJbACli. 

prosecLUor  vvitli  that  ot"  judge — instantly  sets 
about  collecting  evidence.  Those  against  whom 
he  finds  any  reasonable  grounds  of  suspicion  are 
at  once  apprehended,  and  kept  in  prison  until 
their  guilt  or  innocence  be  proved.  The  judge 
meanwhile  endeavors  to  trace  back  the  priso- 
ner's life  to  his  very  cradle,  to  make  himself 
thoroughly  acquainted  with  his  character  and 
disposition,  in  order  thence  to  infer  whether  he 
be  or  be  not  a  man  likely  to  have  committed  the 
crime  imputed  to  him.  To  this  end  witnesses 
are  examined. 

Children  under  eight  years  of  age,  persons 
directly  interested  in  the  result  of  the  trial,  or 
who  have  been  convicted  or  even  strongly  sus- 
pected of  perjury,  falsehood,  or  suppression  of 
evidence,  are  incompetent  witnesses.  Suspi- 
cious witnesses  are  persons  under  the  age  of 
eighteen,  accomplices,  the  injured  party,  in- 
formers, except  such  as  are  officially  bound  to 
inform,  persons  of  doubtful  character,  and  per- 
sons in  any  way  connected  with  or  hostile  to 
the  party  affected  by  their  testimony. 

The  evidence  of  two  sufficient  witnesses 
(those  against  whom  none  of  the  above-men- 
tioned objections  can  be  raised),  as  to  facts 
which  they  have  seen  with  their  own  eyes,  is 
taken  as  proof;  that  of  one  sufficient  witness  as 
half  proof 

The  testimony  of  two  suspicious  witnesses,  if 
agreeing,  is  equal  to  that  of  one  sufficient  witness. 

Circumstantial   evidence   amounts   to    proof 


PREFACE  V 

when  all  the  circumstances  are  fully  proved  by 
witnesses,  and  cannot  be  reasonably  accounted 
for  except  on  the  supposition  of  the  prisoner's 
guilt ;  but  while  any  other  explanation  is  possi- 
ble the  evidence  is  deemed  imperfect ;  and  even 
when  circumstantial  evidence  is  complete,  the 
conviction  of  the  prisoner,  in  cases  of  capital 
oftence,  is  not  followed  by  sentence  of  death, 
unless  he  confess  his  crime. 

By  far  the  most  important  evidence  is  that 
given  by  the  prisoner  himself;  he  is  questioned 
by  the  examining  judge,  in  the  presence  only 
of  a  notary  employed  to  take  down  his  replies. 
The  judge  begins  by  exhorting  him  to  tell  the 
truth,  hinting  that  a  full  confession  may  soften 
his  punishment.  He  then  asks  him  whether  he 
knows  why  he  has  been  arrested  ;  and  if  the 
prisoner  affects  ignoi'ance  or  gives  a  false  rea- 
son, he  is  again  admonished.  Should  he  persist 
in  his  assertions  the  judge  closes  the  examina- 
tion for  that  day.  At  the  next  examination  he 
reminds  the  prisoner  of  the  duty  of  truth  and  of 
the  danger  of  persisting  in  falsehood,  and  then 
begins  a  series  of  questions  calculated  to  entrap 
him  into  admissions  inconsistent  with  innocence. 
If  on  the  other  hand  the  prisoner  states  the  true 
cause  of  his  arrest,  he  is  called  upon  to  tell  all 
he  knows  of  the  matter.  His  statement  is  writ- 
ten down,  and  the  judge  afterwards  questions 
him  upon  every  circumstance  of  his  story,  im- 
portant or  trifling,  taking  care  that  he  shall  not, 
if  it  can  be  avoided,  perceive  which  questions 

a  2 


VI  PREFACE. 

are  important,  and  that  no  time  be  allowed  him 
to  consider  his  replies.  During  the  inquiry  the 
prisoner  is  kept  in  ignorance  of  the  charge 
against  him,  and  any  endeavor  on  his  part  to 
gain  information  on  the  subject  is  an  oflence  in 
Jaw.  He  is  not  allowed  to  see  a  copy  of  his 
own  evidence  or  of  that  of  the  witnesses.  But 
when  the  judge  has  failed  to  obtain  a  confes- 
sion, the  prisoner  is  unexpectedly  confronted 
with  one  or  more  of  the  witnesses  against  him, 
or  with  an  accomplice,  if  there  be  one,  in  the 
hopes  of  surprising  him  into  a  confession. 
Should  the  prisoner  refuse  to  answer,  he  is  put 
on  a  diet  of  bread  and  water.  In  cases  of  mur- 
der, the  accused  is  led  to  the  spot  where  the 
crime  was  committed,  and  the  bleeding  corpse, 
or,  it  may  be,  the  mouldering  remains  are  sud- 
denly shown  to  him.  Feuerbach  remarks  that 
in  cases  of  infanticide  this  expedient  has  never 
been  known  to  fail ;  but  it  is  manifest  that  such 
terrors  can  have  little  or  no  eflect  on  hardened 
and  resolute  criminals.  A  confession  must  be 
formally  made  before  the  examining  judge,  and 
that  not  during  the  first  examination  ;  a  confes- 
sion made  then  cannot  be  followed  by  convic- 
tion ;  and  a  confession  made  before  two  suffi- 
cient witnesses  in  the  absence  of  the  judge  is 
only  half  proof,  and  requires  to  be  confirmed  by 
other  evidence. 

But  even  when  a  confession  has  been  extorted 
it  affords  no  proof  of  the  That  hestand,  the  cor- 
pus delicti,  or  fact  that  the  crime  has  been  com- 


PREFACE.  Vll 


mitted  :  it  is  evidence  that  the  prisoner  commit- 
ted the  actions  which  he  describes,  but  it  does 
not  prove  what  were  the  results  of  those  actions. 
The  That  hestand  must  be  proved  beyond  all 
reasonable  doubt,  and  in  cases  of  murder  it  must 
be  shown  that  the  injuries  inflicted  were  un- 
doubtedly mortal. 

It  is  the  duty  of  the  examining  judge  to  col- 
lect evidence  for  the  prisoner  as  carefully  as 
against  him ;  but  when  he  has  got  together  all 
that  he  can  find,  the  prisoner  is  furnished  with 
a  legal  defender,  who  is  allowed  to  confer  with 
him  in  private,  having  first  sworn  to  undertake 
no  unrighteous  defence.  This  advocate  makes 
a  minute  of  his  objections  to  the  course  of  pro- 
cedure, and  composes  a  written  defence,  which 
is  sent  by  the  examining  judge,  together  with  a 
full  report  of  all  the  proceedings,  to  the  central 
criminal  court  of  the  district.  This  court  decides 
by  majority  upon  the  guilt  of  the  accused,  the 
nature  of  his  crime,  and  the  punishment  to  be 
inflicted ;  when  the  punishment  is  death,  or  im- 
prisonment exceeding  twenty  years,  the  sentence 
is  sent  for  revision  to  the  high  court  of  appeal, 
and  in  other  cases  the  prisoner  may  appeal,  if  he 
desires  it.  When  the  appellate  court  has  given 
its  decision,  the  prisoner,  if  the  sentence  be 
reversed,  is  instantly  set  free;  if  confirmed,  it  is 
executed  within  twenty-four  hours. 

If,  in  cases  of  capital  crime,  proof  fails  from 
mere  technical  insufficiency, the  prisoner  escapes 
the  punishment  of  death ;  but  imprisonment  of 


Vm  PREFACE. 

greater  or   less   duration   and    severity  is   in- 
flicted. 

The  Bavarian  system  of  inquiry  and  of  ap- 
peals occasionally  prolongs  a  trial  over  a  space 
of  several  years.  In  one  case  described  in  this 
work,  that  of  Riembauer,  the  reports  filled  forty- 
two  folio  volumes,  and  the  trial  lasted  five  years, 
whereas  in  England  it  would  have  been  con- 
cluded in  as  many  days.  The  reader,  who  may 
be  inclined  altogether  to  condemn  this  German 
prolixity  and  dehberation,  should  remember  that 
in  the  year  1827  no  fewer  than  six  persons,  who 
had  been  convicted  of  capital  crimes  at  the  Old 
Bailey,  and  left  for  execution,  were  proved  to 
be  innocent,  and  saved  by  the  zeal  and  activity 
of  the  sheriff.*  In  the  last  century  the  Bava- 
rian criminal  procedure  was  anything  but  slow. 
Torture  was  not  abolished  until  1806,  a  reform 
chiefly  owing  to  the  humane  exertions  of  Feuer- 
bach,  and  extremely  distasteful  to  the  judges  of 
the  old  school,  who  could  not  forgive  him  for 
having  put  an  end  to  so  simple,  expeditious,  and 
easy  a  mode  of  obtaining  evidence.  "  What," 
said  they,  "  could  be  the  use  of  making  so  many 
difficulties  about  hanging  a  pack  of  criminals  ?" 
The  time  lost  by  the  abolition  of  torture  was  at 
first  regained  by  a  total  disregard  of  the  very 
slight  means  of  defence  afforded  to  the  accused 
by  the  Codex  Juris  Bavarici  Criminalis  de  anno 
1751.  The  doctrine  that  the  sooner  criminal 
cases  were  disposed  of  the  better,  was  acted 

♦"  CriminnI  Law  Report,"  vol.  viii. 


PaEFACE.  IX 

upua  until  the  IGlh  of  May,  1813,  when  the 
criminal  code,  composed  by  Feuerbach  for  the 
king-dom  of  Bavaria,  received  the  roval  assent. 
This  code  was  adopted  by  the  duchy  of  Olden- 
burg, and  forms  the  basis  of  new  criminal  codes 
for  Weimar,  Wurtemburg,  and  other  German 
states. 

The  defects  of  the  mode  of  procedure  used  in 
the  foUowinar  trials  are  of  a  kind  which  cannot 
fail  to  strike  every  English  reader — its  advan- 
tages are  far  more  likely  to  escape  his  notice. 
The  minute  and  searching  investigation  into  the 
secret  motives  and  inmost  feelings,  as  well  as 
the  external  actions  of  the  criminal,  must  give 
to  a  Bavarian  trial  an  interest  which  would  be 
sought  in  vain  in  our  own  courts  of  law. 

Perhaps  nothing  in  the  following  trials  will 
appear  more  surprising  to  English  readers  than 
that  the  criminals  should  almost  always  confess 
their  crimes  in  the  most  circumstantial  manner. 
Feuerbach  was  himself  so  much  struck  by  this 
circumstance,  that  he  has  devoted  a  chapter  of 
the  book  from  which  the  following  trials  have 
been  selected,  to  an  examination  of  the  subject. 
A  few,  he  says,  very  few,  confess  from  remorse, 
some  from  inability  to  evade  the  searching  inter- 
rogatories of  the  judge,  some  from  indifference 
to  their  fate,  others  from  a  desire  to  put  an  end 
to  a  state  of  anxiety  and  suspense ;  but  by  far 
the  greater  number  from  dislike  to  the  strict 
discipline  and  compulsory  silence  of  a  Bavarian 
prison.     One  criminal,  after  three  days'  impris- 


PRliFACE. 


onment,  confessed,  saying,  "  That  he  could  no 
longer  hold  his  tongue ;  that  he  had  been  accus- 
tomed to  social  pleasures,  and  would  rather  tell 
all  than  be  condemned  to  perpetual  silence." 

Those  among  my  readers  who  are  interested 
in  the  comparison  of  the  criminal  procedure  of 
Bavaria  with  ihat  of  England,  will  find  the 
information  which  I  want  both  space  and  ability 
to  offer,  in  the  'Law  Magazine,'  vol.  ix., p.  277; 
the  '  Foreign  Quarterly  Review,'  vol.  viii.,  p. 
267  ;  and  the  '  Edinburgh  Review,'  vol.  Ixxxii., 
p.  318. 

I  have  selected  those  trials  which  appear  to 
me  to  possess  the  greatest  general  interest,  and, 
in  obedience  to  the  suggestions  contained  in  a 
most  interesting  article  in  the  last-named  journal, 
I  have  abridged  them  to  little  more  than  half 
their  original  length.  I  hope  that  I  have  never- 
theless succeeded  in  preserving  the  main  outline 
of  every  trial,  filled  up  with  just  so  much  of 
detail  as  will  serve  to  give  a  tolerably  faithful 
picture  of  crimes  common  to  all  nations,  treated 
in  a  manner  very  widely  differing  from  our  own. 

L.  D.  G. 
December.  1845. 


CONTENTS. 


Page 

JOHN  PAUL  FORSTER  ;   or,  tlie  Twofold  Murder 1 

THE  ANTONINI  FAMILY  ;   or,  the  Murder  on  a  Journey    ...  44 

FRANCIS  RIEMBAUER,  the  Tartuffe  of  Real  Life 62 

THE  UNKNOWN  MURDERER  ;  or,  the  Police  at  Fault.     ...  101 

ANNA  MARIA  ZWANZIGER,  the  German  Brinvilliers  ....  128 

JAMES  THALREUTER  ;  or,  the  False  Prince 163 

THE  KLEINSCHROT  FAMILY  ;  or,  the  Parricides  of  the  Black 

Mill 184 

JOHN  GEORGE  SORGEL,  the  Idiot  Murderer 212 

GEORGE  WACHS  ;   or,  the  Sudden  Temptation 229 

GEORGE  RAUSCHMAIER  ;  or,  the  Telltale  Ring 258 

ANDREW  BICIIEL.  the  Woman-Murderer 271 

JOHN  HOLZINGER  ;  or,  Manslaughter,  Murder,  and  Suicide,  from 

Love  and  Jealousy 286 

CASPAR  FRISCH,  the  Murderer  from  Vanity 307 

LUDWIG  STEINER  the  Murderer  from  Revenge 318 


REMARKABLE 

GERMAN  CRIMINAL  TRIALS. 


JOHN    PAUL   FORSTER. 

THE   TWOFOLD   MURDER. 

Christopher  Baumler,  a  worthy  citizen  of 
Niirnberg,  lived  in  the  Konigsstrasse^  a  wide  an-d 
much-frequented  street,  where  he  carried  on  the 
trade  of  a  corn-chandler,  which  there  includes  the 
right  of  selling  brandy.  He  had  lately  lost  his 
wife,  and  lived  quite  alone  with  only  one  maid- 
servant, Anna  Catherina  Schiitz.  He  had  the 
reputation  of  being  rich. 

Baumler  was  in  the  habit  of  opening  his  shop  at 
five  o'clock  in  the  morning  at  latest.  But  on  the 
21st  of  September,  1820,  to  the  surprise  of  his 
neighbors  it  remained  closed  till  past  six.  Curios- 
ity and  alarm  drew  together  a  number  of  people 
before  the  house.  They  rang  repeatedly,  but  no 
one  came  to  the  door.  At  last  some  neighbors, 
with  the  sanction  of  the  police,  entered  the  first- 
floor  windows  by  a  ladder.  Here  they  found 
drawers,  chests,  and  closets  burst  open,  and  pre- 
senting every  appearance  of  a  robbery  having  been 
committed.  They  hastened  down  stairs  into  the 
shop,  where  they  discovered  in  a  comer  close  to 
the  street-door,  the  bloody  coi-pse  of  the  maid  ;  and 
in  the  parlor  they  found  Baumler  lying  dead  be- 
side the  stove. 
1        A 


2  REMARKABLE    CRIMINAL    TRIALS. 

The  house  stands  on  the  left  hand  in  going  along 
the  Koaii^sstrasse  from  the  Frauen  Thor,  not  far 
froni  tlic  cliurch  of  Saint  Laurence.  Several  houses, 
chiefly  inns  and  shops,  flank  it  on  either  side  ;  on 
the  right,  an  inn  called  the  Golden  Lion  stands  out 
several  feet  beyond  it. 

Close  to  this  projecting  wall  is  the  door  of 
Biiumler's  house,  which  is  entered  by  one  low  step ; 
the  hall  serves  as  a  shop,  and  the  walls  are  lined 
with  shelves,  chests,  &c.  The  length  of  this  hall 
from  the  street-door  to  the  opposite  end,  where  a 
door  opens  into  a  court,  is  about  sixteen  feet ;  on 
th«  left  a  staircase  leads  to  the  floor  above.  The 
breadth  is  unequal,  for  on  the  right  hand  near  the 
door  there  is  a  corner  about  four  feet  wide  and 
three  feet  deep,  which  forms  part  of  the  shop.  On 
one  side  is  the  wall  of  Baumler's  parlor ;  on  the 
other,  the  main  wall  of  the  house  towards  the 
street,  where  a  large  bow-window,  always  closed 
with  heavy  shutters  at  night,  admits  the  light  into 
the  shop,  and  thence  into  the  parlor  through  a 
window  opening  into  this  corner.  About  seven 
feet  from  the  entx'anco  to  the  shop  is  the  door  of 
the  small  parlor,  which  is  cut  off"  fi-om  the  street  on 
all  sides,  and  furnished  -with  tables  and  benches  for 
the  convenience  of  the  customers  for  brandy. 

The  house-door,  as  is  usually  the  case  in  shops 
of  this  kind  in  Niirnberg,  is  formed  of  two  wings 
joined  together,  one  of  which  folds  back  upon  the 
other,  and  is  fastened  by  a  simple  contrivance  to 
the  wall.  During  the  day  a  glass  door  is  fixed  in 
the  half  of  the  doorway  thus  loft  open,  which  in 
the  daytime  serves  to  light  the  shop,  and  in  the 
evening  to  show  passers-by  that  the  host  is  ready 
to  receive  customers.  The  door  of  Baiimler's 
shop,  behind  the  wing  of  which  a  man  could  per- 
fectly conceal  himself  from  any  one  entering,  opens 
towards  the  left,  exactly  opposite  to  the  corner  we 


JOHN    PAUL    FORSTER.  d 

have  already  described,  so  that  any  one  coming  in 
would  turn  his  face  towards  the  corner ;  and  in 
the  event  of  being  attacked  by  a  person  hidden 
behind  the  door,  would  naturally  run  towards  it. 
A  bell  hangs  over  the  entrance  which  rings  when- 
ever either  the  glass  or  the  wooden  door*  is 
opened. 

As  soon  as  the  police  were  informed  of  the  mur- 
der, a  commission  was  appointed  to  visit  Biiumler's 
house.     Immediately  on  entering  the  shop,  to  the 
right  of  the  door  in  the  corner,  between  two  bins 
of  meal  and  salt,  the  maid-servant  Schiitz  lay  on 
her  back,  with  her  head   shattered,  and  her  feet, 
from  which  both  her  shoes  had  fallen,  turned  to- 
wards  the  door.     Her  face  and  clothes,  and  the 
floor  were  covered  with  blood  ;  and  the  two  bins, 
between  which  her  head  lay,  as  well  as  the  wall, 
were  spnnkled  with  it.     As  no  other  part  of  the 
shop  showed  any  marks  of  blood,  it  was  evident 
that  she  had  been  murdered  in  this  corner.     Not 
far  from  the  body  they  picked  up  a  small  comb, 
and  at  a  little  distance  from  that  a  larger  one,  with 
several  fragments  of  a  second  small  one.     In  the 
very  farthest  corner   of  the   parlor,   between   the 
stove  and  a  small  table,  upon  which  stood  a  jug, 
they  found  the  body  of  Baumler  stretched  on  his 
back,  with  his  head,  which  was  resting  on  a  small 
overturned  stool,  covered  with  wounds  and  blood. 
A  pipe  and  several  small  coins  lay  under  the  body, 
where  they  had  probably  fallen  when  the  murderer 
ransacked  the  pocket,  which  was  turned  inside  out 
and  stained  with  blood,  for  money  or  forkeys.    The 
floor,  the  stove,  and  the  wall  were  covered  with 
blood,  the  stool  was  saturated,  and  even  the  vault- 
ed ceiflnof,  which  was  nine  or  ten  feet  high,  was 

♦  Without  this  dry  description  it  would  be  almost  impossible 
to  understand  the  manner  in  which  this  complicated  murder  was 
perpetrated. 


4  REMARKABLE    CRIMINAL    TRIALS. 

sprinkled  with  it.  These  circumstances,  especially 
the  stool  on  which  Biiumler's  head  still  rested,  and 
the  pipe  which  lay  under  his  body,  showed  that  the 
murderer  must  have  suddenly  attacked  him  una- 
wares and  felled  him  to  the  earth,  as  he  sat  drinking 
his  beer  and  smoking  his  pipe  on  that  very  spot. 

One  drawer  of  the  commode  in  the  upper  cham- 
ber was  pulled  out,  the  doors  of  two  cupboards  in 
the  adjoining  room  were  open,  and  everything  lay 
scattered  about  the  floor.  Several  other  presses, 
however,  had  not  been  opened,  and  many  things* 
of  value,  such  as  clothes,  silver  ornaments,  a  gold 
repeater,  &c.,  were  left  in  them,  and  even  in  those 
which  had  been  opened.  The  rooms  on  the  second 
story  were  found  in  their  usual  state. 

On  the  table,  in  the  parlor,  stood  a  wine-glass 
witli  some  red  brandy  at  the  bottom,  and  a  closed 
clasp-knife  stained  with  blood  on  the  back  and 
sides.  Two  newly-baked  rolls  were  found  near 
the  entrance-door. 

The  baker  Stierhof  stated  that  Baumler's  maid 
had  fetched  these  rolls  from  his  shop  the  evening 
before,  at  about  a  quarter  to  ten.  His  wife,  who 
was  examined  the  next  day  on  this  point,  recog- 
nised the  rolls  as  those  bought  by  the  unfortunate 
maid-servant  on  the  evening  of  the  20th  of  Septem- 
ber, adding,  "  The  evening  before  last,  at  nearly  a 
quarter  to  ten,  the  maid  came  to  my  house  and 
asked  for  two  half-penny  rolls,  which  I  gave  her. 
I  did  not  recognise  her  till  she  was  going  away, 
when  I  said,  *  It  is  you,  is  it  1'  She  answered 
sulkily,  '  Yes.'  I  asked  if  they  still  had  guests 
with  them ;  and  she  said,  '  Yes,  there  are  a  few 
fellows  there  still.'  I  then  looked  out  of  the  win- 
dow for  a  while :  there  was  a  death-like  silence 
in  the  street,  so  much  so  that  I  remarked  it  to  my 
people.  At  a  quarter  to  ten  exactly  I  closed  the 
shop." 


JOHN    PAUL    FORSTER.  5 

This  evidence  afforded  a  strong  presumption  that 
some  person  or  persons  who  were  still  in  B'aum- 
ler's  shop  at  a  quarter  to  ten  had  committed  this 
murder.  Furthermore  it  was  certain  that  the 
murder  of  the  maid-servant  could  not  have  taken 
place  earlier  than  a  quarter  to  ten  ;  the  two  rolls 
which  she  had  fetched  about  that  time  from  the 
baker  Stierhof,  and  which  were  found  on  the  floor 
near  the  entrance,  showed  that  the  murderer  had 
attacked  her  as  she  entered  the  shop  on  her  return 
from  the  baker's,  that  she  dropped  the  rolls  in  her 
fright,  was  driven  into  the  corner  of  the  shop,  and 
there  murdered.  There  could  be  no  doubt  that 
Baumler  was  murdered  before  the  maid-servant, 
for  he  was  found  beside  the  stool  on  which  he 
usually  sat  smoking  his  pipe  by  the  stove.  Had 
he  been  alive  when  the  murderer  attacked  his 
maid,  he  would  have  been  alarmed  by  the  noise, 
and  liave  gone  out  into  the  shop  ;  at  any  rate  he 
would  not  have  remained  quietly  seated  for  the 
murderer  to  dispatch  him  at  his  leisure.  It  was 
also  evident  that  Baumler  must  have  been  mur- 
dered during  the  maid's  absence.  Now  the  dis- 
tance from  Baumler's  house  to  the  bakei's  shop  is 
at  most  a  hundred  steps  ;  thus,  even  supposing  that 
Schiitz,  angry  at  being  sent  out  so  late,  went  very 
slowly,  the  walk  there  and  back,  including  the 
short  conversation  with  the  baker's  wife,  could  not 
have  occupied  above  five  minutes,  and  during  this 
interval  the  murder  of  Baumler  must  have  been 
completed,  and  that  of  Schiitz  prepared.  This 
was  proved  by  the  following  circumstance  :  —  as 
long  as  the  glass  door  was  there  the  murderer 
could  neither  attack  Schiitz  on  her  entrance  nor 
murder  her  within  the  threshold,  as  he  could  not 
possibly  hide  himself  behind  the  glass  door,  which 
would  moreover  have  exposed  him  to  the  risk  of 
observation  from  every  passer-by,  and  even  to  the 

A  2  ■ 


6  REMARKABLE   CRIMINAL   TRIALS. 

chance  of  some  stray  guest  of  Baumler's  entering 
the  shop  and  surprising  him  in  the  act.  It  was 
therefore  necessary  to  take  the  glass  door  off"  its 
hingcsr  and  to  shut  the  street-door,  before  attacking 
Schiitz  on  her  return  to  the  liouse  —  and  this  he 
accordingly  did.  Baumler's  house  was  not  usually 
closed  till  eleven,  but  on  the  night  of  the  murder  a 
chandler  of  the  name  of  Rossel,  who  lived  op- 
posite, happened  to  look  out  at  about  a  quarter  to 
ten,  and  saw,  to  his  surprise,  that  Baumler's  housa 
was  then  closed — no  doubt  by  the  murderer.  It 
was  a  quarter  to  ten  when  Schiitz  was  at  the 
baker's  shop ;  at  the  same  hour  Rossel  saw  Baum- 
ler's house  shut :  we  may  therefore  infer  that  the 
murderer  killed  Baumler  soon  after  his  maid's  de- 
parture, quickly  unhinged  the  glass  door,  lay  in 
wait  for  the  maid  behind  the  street-door,  opened  it 
for  her,  and  attacked  her  as  she  came  in :  the  con- 
curring evidence  of  two  witnesses  thus  distinctly 
proves  that  the  murder  of  Bilumler  and  his  maid 
must  have  taken  place  during  the  few  minutes  be- 
fore and  after  a  quarter  to  ten. 

We  must  further  remark  that  the  bell  over  the 
entrance-door  did  not  ring  when  the  police  entered, 
and  was  found  to  be  stuffed  with  paper.  Neither 
Baumler  nor  his  maid  could  have  had  any  motive 
for  doing  this  ;  but  the  murderer  had  every  rea- 
son :  the  ringing  of  the  bell  might  have  drawn  tlie 
attention  of  a  neighbor  or  a  passer-by  to  Baum- 
ler's house  at  the  very  moment  when  the  horrible 
crime  was  being  committed  just  within  the  door. 

It  further  appeared  that  the  murderer  stayed 
till  at  least  half-past  ten,  occupitul  in  ransacking 
the  house,  and  probably  in  washing  himself  and 
changing  his  clothes  ;  for  a  shoemaker  of  the  name 
of  Piihler,  who  passed  by  Biiumlcr's  house  at  that 
hour,  saw  a  hght  in  the  ilrst  lloor,  while  the  win- 
dow over  the  shop-door  was  quite  dai-k. 


JOHN   PAUL    FORSTER.  7 

Although  the  two  houses  adjoining  Biiumler's 
were  both  inhabited,  and  two  watchmen  were 
guarding  some  loaded  waggons  in  the  street  close 
by — and  although  the  murders  were  committed  at 
a  time  when  very  few  people  are  in  bed  and  asleep 
— and,  as  the  baker's  wife  stated,  when  death-like 
silence  prevailed  in  the  street — not  a  single  person 
could  be  found  who  had  heard  any  outcry  or  other 
noise  in  Baumler's  house. 

,  On  examining  the  body  of  the  maid-servant,  a 
handsome  well-shaped  girl  of  twenty-three,  the 
head  was  found  completely  shattered ;  there  wei'e 
also  several  wounds  upon  the  neck,  breast,  and 
hands,  and  the  breast-bone  and  three  of  the  ribs 
were  fractured.  Baumler's  skull  was  broken  into 
eleven  pieces;  and  although  there  were  no  exter- 
nal injui-ies  upon  the  chest,  the  stei'num  and  ribs 
were  fi-actured,  as  in  the  maid-servant.  There 
could  not  be  the  slightest  doubt  that  the  wounds 
were  mortal.  The  surgeons  gave  it  as  their  opi- 
nion that  the  wounds  on  the  heads  of  both  victims 
had  been  inflicted  with  a  heavy  instrument  having 
a  flat  surface  with  sharp  edges,  probably  the  back 
of  a  hatchet.  The  I'ibs  did  not  appear  to  have 
been  broken  with  the  hatchet,  but  rather  by  stamp- 
inar  on  the  bodies. 

The  evidence  of  the  baker's  wife  had  led  to  the 
conclusion  that  some  man  who  had  stayed  until 
late  in  the  evening  at  Baumler's  house  must  have 
been  the  murderer.  Accordingly,  all  those  who 
had  been  at  Baumler's  house  on  that  evening 
were  examined,  and  concurre,d  in  saying  that  a 
stranger  had  entered  the  shop  very  early,  had  sat 
at  the  farther  end  of  the  table,  alternately  smoking 
and  drinking  red  brandy  out  of  a  wine-glass ;  and 
that  he  had  remained  there  alone  at  nine  o'clock, 
when  the  others  went  away.  All  agreed  in  their 
description  of  his  person  ;  that  he  was  about  thir- 


8  REiMARKABLE    CRIMINAL    TRIALS. 

ty,  of  dark  complexion,  and  black  hair  and  beard  ; 
that  he  worn  a  dark-colored  coat  (most  of  the  wit- 
nesses said  a  blue  one,  which  afterwards  proved  to 
be  a  mistake),  and  that  he  had  on  a  high  beaver 
hat.  With  the  exception  of  one  witness  who  had 
conversed  with  the  stranger  about  the  hop  trade 
and  other  like  matters,  and  had  found  him  a  well- 
informed,  agi-eeable  man,  they  all  staled  that  he 
had  kept  his  hat  pressed  over  his  face,  and  his 
eyes  constantly  fixed  on  the  ground,  and  that  he 
had  said  little  or  nothing.  He  stated  himself  to 
be  a  hop-merchant,  and  said  that  he  was  waiting 
at  Baumler's  for  his  companion,  another  hop-mer- 
chant, who  had  gone  to  the  play.  The  witnesses 
recognised  the  glass  produced  in  court,  as  exactly 
similar  to  that  out  of  which  the  stranger  had  been 
drinking  red  clove-brandy. 

Meanwhile  suspicion  had  fallen  upon  a  certain 
Paul  Forster,  who  had  lately  been  discharged 
from  the  bridewell  at  Schwabach,  and  who  had 
been  observed  for  several  days  before  the  murder 
walking  about  in  a  suspicious  manner  before 
Baumler's  house.  His  father,  a  miserably  poor 
day -laborer,  lived  with  two  daughters  of  infamous 
characters  in  a  cottage  belonging  to  a  gardener 
named  Thaler,  in  the  suburb  of  St.  John.  Forster 
did  not  live  with  his  father  ;  but  on  the  morning 
after  the  murder  he  had  left  the  suburb  of  St.  John 
quite  early,  and  had  gone  to  Diesbeck,  where  he 
lived  with  a  woman  called  Margaret  Preiss,  who 
had  been  his  mistress  for  many  years.  At  her  house 
he  was  an-estcd  by  the  jDolice  on  the  23d  of  Sep- 
tember, the  third  day  after  the  murder.  In  her 
room  were  found,  among  other  things,  two  bags  of 
money,  the  one  containing  209  florins  21  kreuzers, 
the  other  152  florins  17  kreuzers.  Besides  these 
Preiss's  illegitimate  daughter,  a  girl  of  about  four- 
teen, gave  up  a  small  purse  containing  some  medals 


JOHN  PAUL   FORSTER.  9 

and  a  ducat  which  Forster  had  given  to  her  when 
he  returned  to  Diesbeck. 

On  the  following  day,  when  the  gens  d'armes 
were  escorting  Forster  and  his  mistress  through 
Fiirth,  the  waiter  of  the  inn  recognised  the  prisoner 
as  the  man  who  had  come  to  the  inn  at  about  eight 
or  nine  in  the  morning  of  the  21st  of  September, 
dressed  in  a  dark  grey  cloth  greatcoat,  went  away 
again  in  about  an  hour,  and  then  returned  dressed 
in  a  dark  blue  coat,  and  gave  him  a  brown  one 
which  he  can'ied  under  his  arm  to  take  care  of,  re- 
questing him  to  keep  it  safe  and  to  be  sure  not  to 
show  it  to  any  one  ;  adding  that  in  a  week  he  would 
return  and  claim  it.  The  waiter  now  informed 
the  magistrate  at  Fiirth  of  this  circumstance,  and 
produced  the  greatcoat,  which  was  much  stained 
and  in  some  places  soaked  with  blood. 

The  description  given  of  the  suspicious-looking 
stranger,  who  had  sat  out  all  the  others  on  the 
evening  of  the  20th  of  September,  exactly  resem- 
bled Forster. 

As  soon  as  the  prisoners  reached  Niirnberg,  at 
about  4  P.M.  of  the  24th,  they  were  conducted,  ac- 
cording to  legal  practice,  to  view  the  bodies  lying 
in  Baumler's  house.  The  coi-pses  were  laid  in 
their  coffins,  with  the  faces  exposed  and  the  bodies 
covered  with  their  own  bloody  gaiTnents  ;  Baum- 
ler  on  the  right,  and  the  maid-sers'ant  on  the  left 
hand,  thus  leaving  a  passage  open  between  the 
coffins. 

Paul  Forster  was  brought  in  first ;  he  stepped 
into  the  room,  and  between  the  two  coi-pses,  with- 
out the  slightest  change  of  countenance.  WTien 
desired  to  look  at  them,  he  gazed  stedfastly  and 
coldly  upon  them,  and  replied  to  the  question 
whether  he  knew  the  body  on  the  right,  '^  No,  I 
know  it  not ;  it  is  quite  disfigured  :  I  know  it  not." 
And  to  the  second  question,  "  Do  you  know  this 


10  REiMARKADLE    CRIMINAL    TRIALS. 

one  to  the  left  1"  he  answered  in  the  same  manner, 
"  No,  she  has  lain  in  the  grave  ;  I  know  her  not." 
When  asked  how  he  knew  that  the  body  had  lain 
in  the  grave,  ho  replied,  pointing  to  the  face, 
"  Because  she  is  so  disfigured ;  the  face  is  quite 
decayed  here!"  On  being  desired  by  the  judge 
to  point  out  the  exact  spot  which  he  thought  so 
decayed,  with  a  constrained  air,  but  with  the  coars- 
est inditlerence,  he  grasped  the  head  of  the  murder- 
ed woman,  pressed  the  brow,  the  broken  nose,  and 
the  cheeks  with  his  fingers,  and  said  quite  coolly, 
"  Here  :  you  may  see  it  clearly  !■"  He  attempted 
to  evade  every  question  addressed  to  him  by  the 
judge,  by  affecting  that  the  idea  of  murder  was  so 
utterly  foreign  to  him,  that  in  all  innocence  and 
simplicity  he  mistook  the  deadly  wounds  for  the 
result  of  decay. 

All  the  endeavors  of  the  judge  to  wring  some 
sign  of  embarrassment  or  feeling  from  this  man,  as 
he  stood  between  his  two  victims,  were  vain  :  his 
iron  soul  was  unmoved.  Only  once,  when  asked, 
•'  Where,  then,  is  the  corn-chandler  to  whom  the 
house  belongs  V  he  appeared  staggei'cd,  but  only 
for  a  moment.  The  judge  went  so  far  in  his  zeal, 
as  to  desire  him  to  hold  the  hands  of  both  corpses, 
and  then  to  say  what  ho  felt.  Without  a  moment's 
hesitation,  Forster  grasped  the  cold  hand  of  Baum- 
ler  in  his  right,  and  that  of  Schiitz  in  his  left  hand  ; 
and  answered,  *'  He  feels  cold — ah,  she  is  cold  too ;" 
an  answer  which  clearly  contained  a  sort  of  con- 
temptuous sneer  at  the  judge's  question.  During 
the  whole  scene,  the  tone  of  his  voice  was  as  soft 
and  sanctimonious,  and  his  manner  as  calm,  as  his 
feelings  were  cold  and  unmoved. 

His  mistress's  behavior  was  very  different ;  she 
was  much  shaken  on  entering  the  room.  When 
desired  to  look  at  the  dead  bodies,  she  did  so,  but 
instantly  tui'ned  away  shuddering,  and  asked  for 


JOHN  PAUL  FORSTER.  11 

water.  She  declared  that  she  knew  nothing  of 
these  persons,  or  of  the  manner  of  their  death. 
She  said  that  she  had  learned  that  she  was  sup- 
posed to  be  implicated  in  the  horrible  deed  from 
the  populace,  who  crowded  in  thousands  round  the 
can-iage  which  brought  them  from  Fiirth  to  Niirn- 
berg,  calling  her  a  murderess,  striking  her  with 
their  fists  and  sticks,  and  ill-using  her  in  eveiy  way. 
But  that  God  would  manifest  her  innocence,  and 
that  she  could  bring  witnesses  to  prove  that  she 
had  not  left  her  home  at  Diesbeck  for  some  weeks. 
Her  evident  coinpassion  for  the  victims,  and  horror 
of  the  crime,  spoke  more  in  favor  of  her  innocence 
than  her  tears  and  protestations.  An  alibi  was 
subsequently  most  clearly  proved. 

On  Forster's  examination,  he  professed  himself 
totally  ignorant  of  the  cause  of  his  arrest,  adding 
that  he  conjectui'ed  from  the  shouts  of  the  mob 
that  he  was  suspected  of  a  murder.  He  said  that 
he  had  been  at  Diesbeck  from  the  21st  to  the  23d 
September ;  and  that  if  the  murder  was  committed 
before  that  day,  he  should  be  as  little  able  to  prove 
his  innocence  as  others  would  be  to  prove  his  guilt. 
He  had  never  known  the  murdered  persons.  He 
had  passed  the  ISth,  19th,  and  20th  September  in 
Nuraberg  in  search  of  employment,  and  had  gone 
on  the  last-named  day  through  the  Frauen  Thor  to 
the  suburb  of  St.  .John.  He  had  not  been  able  to 
sleep  in  his  father's  house  on  account  of  the  fleas, 
and  had  lain  in  the  hay  in  Thaler's  open  shed, 
which  he  left  at  one  o'clock  in  the  morning  when 
the  people  got  up  to  begin  threshing,  and  went  to 
Diesbeck,  which  he  reached  at  about  4  p.m.  on  the 
21st;  he  gave  his  mistress  two  bags  of  money  to 
keep  for  him.  This  money  came  into  his  posses- 
sion in  the  following^  manner : — While  he  was  in 
the  bridewell  at  Schwabach  he  had  formed  a  most 
intimate  friendship  with  a  certain  Xavier  Beck,  a 


12  REMARKABLE    CRIMINAL    TRIALS. 

jeweller,  who  was  confined  there  for  bigamy,  and 
who  subsequently  died  in  prison.  This  man  con- 
fided to  him  that  in  a  particular  spot  between 
Fiirth  and  Farnbach  he  had  buried  a  large  sum  of 
money,  half  of  which  he  promised  to  give  to  him. 
After  his  release,  he,  Forster,  searched  for  and 
discovered  the  treasure,  which,  however,  instead 
of  amounting  to  eight  or  nine  thousand  florins,  as 
Beck  had  repi'esentcd,  was  at  most  two  hundred 
and  fifty.  This  money  he  had  concealed  in  a 
stack  of  wood  close  by  the  Frauen  Thor  at  Niirn- 
berg,  but  on  the  evening  of  the  20th  September  he 
had  taken  it  out  again,  and  had  earned  it  on  the 
following  day  to  his  mistress.  The  court  was 
forced  to  rest  satisfied  with  this  tale  for  the  present ; 
but  in  the  mean  time  one  suspicious  circumstance 
after  another  rose  up  in  black  aiTay  against  Paul 
Forster. 

Two  of  the  men  who  had  been  drinking  at 
Biiumler's  house  on  the  20th  September,  identi- 
fied Forster  as  the  suspicious-looking  stranger 
already  described  ;  the  rest  would  not  affinn  this 
on  oath,  which  was  perhaps  owing  to  his  having 
since  that  day  shaved  off'  his  thick  beard,  and 
had  his  hair  cut  close.  Yet  even  these  de- 
clared that  "  they  thought  he  was  the  unknown 
guest ;"  or  "  that  he  appeared  to  be  one  and  the 
same  person;"  or  that  "he  was  exceedingly  like 
him." 

Margaret  Preiss  declared  that  on  Thursday  the 
21st  Forster  returned  home  at  about  4  p.m.;  that 
instead  of  his  usual  brown  coat,  in  which  he  had 
left  her  a  few  days  before,  he  had  on  a  new  blue 
one  ;  that  he  wore  a  pair  of  large  nankeen  trowsers 
which  she  had  never  seen  before,  over  his  old  ones, 
and  new-fashioned  Suwarrow  boots.  He  broutrht 
some  money  in  his  handkerchief,  and  gave  it  to 
her  to  keep  for  him,  observing  that  it  was  not  his, 


JOHN    PAUL    FORSTER.  13 

but  only  entrusted  to  his  care ;  he  then  took  from 
the  pocket  of  his  trowsers  a  Niirnberg  thaler  and 
a  ducat,  which  he  gave  to  her  daughter.  He  was 
very  tired  and  his  feet  were  blistered,  and,  con- 
trary to  his  usual  habit,  seemed  thoughtful  and  out 
of  spirits ;  when  she  asked  him  the  reason,  he  an- 
swered her  drily,  that  nobody  could  always  be 
cheerful.  On  the  next  day  he  ate  nothing,  and 
continued  silent  and  gloomy.  On  the  following 
Saturday,  when  they  heard  a  noise  and  several 
men  came  into  the  room  to  apprehend  him,  he 
turned  red  as  scarlet ;  and  when  she  said  "  You 
have  been  about  some  mischief,"  he  merely  an- 
swered, "  Nay,  I  have  done  nothing." 

Dorr,  a  poor  lead-pencil  maker,  who  lived  in  the 
same  cottasre  with  old  Forster  and  his  dausfhters, 
gave  evidence  as  follows  :  "  On  Thursday  the  21st 
September,  at  two  o'clock  in  the  morning,  Paul 
Forster  came  to  the  window  and  called  for  his 
father  to  come  out  to  him.  Old  Forster  was  in  the 
barn  threshing ;  but  Forster's  sister  AValburga,  on 
hearing  his  voice,  exclaimed,  '  That  is  my  brother 
John,'  jumped  out  of  bed  and  fetched  her  father. 
They  then  all  three  stood  at  the  back  of  the  house 
for  about  half  an  hour,  talking  together  in  a  low 
voice.  Next  morning  Walburga  told  his  (Doit's^ 
wife  that  her  brother  was  gone  hop-picking,  and 
had  given  her  his  old  boots,  as  he  had  bought  some 
new  ones.  Old  Forster  also  told  witness  that  his 
son  had  paid  him  an  old  debt  of  two  or  three  flor- 
ins." It  further  appeared  that  Paul  Forster  could 
not  have  slept  in  the  shed  till  one  in  the  morning, 
as  he  stated,  as  Thaler  and  his  son  swore  that  it 
was  invariably  locked  at  night.  His  mysterious 
nocturnal  visit  at  his  father's  house,  tallied  with  the 
time  when  the  murder  had  been  committed ;  and 
his  long  conversation  with  his  father  and  sister  ap- 
pears the  more  suspicious  as  the  reason  which 

B 


14  REMARKABLE    CRIMINAL    TRIALS. 

Walburga  assigned  for  calling  her  father  out  of 
the  barn,  was  totally  untrue. 

In  a  very  short  time  the  instrument  was  discov- 
ered with  wliich  there  was  every  reason  to  suppose 
the  crime  had  been  committed,  and  which  furnished 
a  fresh  link  in  the  chain  of  evidence  against  Forster. 
On  the  20th  September  a  certain  Margaret  Wolf- 
lin  saw  Catherine,  Forster's  youngest  sister,  go  into 
the  churchyard  in  the  suburb  of  St.  John's,  come 
out  again  and  fetch  her  elder  sister  Walburga,  who 
then  went  into  the  churchyard,  where  Paul  Forster 
was  standing.  After  talking  with  him  for  a  short 
time  in  an  under-tone,  she  went  home,  and  soon 
returned  carrying  an  axe  under  her  arm  as  if  to 
hide  it.  Margaret  VVolflin  asked  her  what  she  had 
under  her  arm,  and  she  then  carried  the  axe  more 
openly,  and  gave  it  to  her  brother  with  the  words 
"  Be  so  good  as  to  take  this  axe  into  to\vn  to  be 
gi'ound  forme."  Forster  took  it  and  went  towards 
Niirnberg,  after  exchanging  a  few  words  and  cast- 
ing an  angry  glance  at  Margaret. 

On  the  following  morning  Walburga  met  Mai*- 
garet  Wulflin  and  told  her  that  the  chandler  Baum- 
ler  had  been  stabbed  the  night  before.  She  had 
her  brother's  boots  in  her  basket,  but  they  had  been 
60  washed  and  rubbed  that  she  could  not  find  a 
purchaser  for  them  at  any  price.  On  the  same  day 
Walburga  met  a  certain  Roth  and  told  him  that 
her  brother  had  given  her  the  boots,  which  she 
was  forced  to  wear  herself,  adding,  "  If  things  go 
well,  it  will  not  be  long  before  I  have  a  new  petti- 
coat too." 

As  soon  as  the  police  had  received  information 
of  these  facts,  they  searched  Forster's  house,  and 
found  behind  the  stack  of  wood  an  axe,  which  one 
of  the  police  identified  as  one  which  he  had  seen 
the  night  before  (26th  September)  lying  behind  the 
stove  wrap])ed  in  a  wet  rag :  there  was  some  red 


JOHN     PAUL    F0K3TER.  15 

moisture  on  the  hatchet  just  where  the  handle 
joined  the  blade.  Margaret  Wolflin  recognised 
this  as  the  same  which  Walburga  had  given  to 
her  brother  by  a  flaw  in  the  steel,  and  the  physi- 
cian declared  the  reddish  stains  on  the  handle 
just  below  the  blade  to  be  half-effaced  marks  of 
blood. 

Forster's  two  sisters,  Walburga  and  Catherine, 
were  apprehended  and  examined.  On  her  first 
examination  Walburga  confessed  that  her  brother 
had  borrowed  the  axe  exactly  as  Wolflin  had 
stated,  under  pretence  of  wanting  it  for  a  burglary ; 
that  between  two  and  three  in  the  morning  he 
brought  it  back  to  her  partly  cleaned,  and  at  the 
same  time  made  her  a  present  of  his  boots,  which 
had  been  washed  up  to  the  ancle,  telling  her  that 
he  had  not  been  lucky  in  his  burglary,  but  that 
whenever  he  got  any  money  he  would  send  her 
some.  At  Forster's  desire  she  then  fetched  their 
father,  to  whom  he  paid  1  fl.  38  kr.,  which  he  had 
bon-owed  of  him  a  fortnight  before.  On  her  second 
examination,  however,  when  pressingly  admonished 
by  the  judge,  she  confessed  that  her  brother  had 
said  to  her  on  that  night,  "  I  have  committed  a 
crime  —  I  have  done  a  great  thing — I  have  mur- 
dered a  man!  Fetch  my  father  quickly,  I  am 
going  hop-picking.  Do  you  wash  the  axe  and  the 
boots,  and  take  care  of  them  for  me,  so  that  no 
one  may  know  anything  of  the  matter."  On 
the  boots  she  had  observed  large  spots,  which  dis- 
appeared on  washing,  and  which  she  supposed 
must  have  been  blood.  She  added  in  a  subsequent 
examination,  that  the  silk  tassels  of  both  boots 
were  quite  glued  together  with  blood. 

The  circumstantial  evidence  against  Forster  now 
appeared  conclusive.  The  dark  brown  coat  worn 
by  the  accused  on  the  day  of  the  murder,  and  left' 
vnth  the  waiter  at  the  inn  of  Fiirth,  was  found  to  be 


16  REMARKABLE    CRIMINAL    TRIALS. 

irrnch  stained  with  blood.  It  was  further  prove  I 
that  over  it  he  wore  a  good  grey  greatcoat,  which 
he  exclianged  at  Fiirth  with  a  Jewess  for  the  blue 
one  in  which  he  was  apprehended.  This  grey 
coat  had  belonged  to  Baumler,  and  the  white  lining 
was  much  stained  with  blood  :  the  nankeen  trow- 
sers  and  the  Suwan-ow  boots  were  also  identified 
as  Baumler's  property  by  the  tradesmen  who  had 
made  them  for  him.  All  these  things,  and  the 
money-bags,  which  could  have  belonged  to  no  one 
but  Baumler,  were  stronger  evidence  of  his  guilt 
than  the  testimony  of  the  most  unsuspected  wit- 
nesses. 

Such  was  the  state  of  the  case  when  Forster 
sent  to  request  an  audience  of  the  judge.  The 
solitude  of  the  prison  had  afforded  him  leisure  to 
reflect  that  a  number  of  damning  circumstances 
were  clearly  proved  against  him.  His  natural 
acuteness  and  long  experience  of  such  matters 
taught  him  that  by  persevering  in  the  affectation 
of  ignorance  as  well  as  innocence  of  the  crime  laid 
to  his  charge,  he  would  expose  himself  to  the  dan- 
ger of  being  compelled  step  by  step  to  deny  man- 
ifest truths,  in  the  teeth  of  the  most  conclusive  evi- 
dence. This,  he  saw,  would  be  a  difficult  and 
dangerous  game,  in  which  he  must  be  diiven  fi-om 
one  retreat  to  another,  and  end  by  being  entangled 
in  snares  woven  of  his  own  answers  and  admis- 
sions. He  therefore  resolved  to  disarm  the  judge 
by  making  a  confession,  which,  while  it  should 
throw  the  guilt  on  others,  might  nevertheless  ac- 
cord with  the  evidence  already  in  the  possession 
of  the  judge,  or  likely  to  be  still  produced.  He 
opened  the  audience  on  the  3d  November  by 
asking  "  pardon  of  the  judge  for  all  the  untruths 
of  which  he  had  been  guilty  on  the  first  examina- 
tion, and  by  declaring  that  he  would  now  relate 
circurastances  which  must  lead  to  the  discovery 


JOHN    PAUL    FORSTER.  ITt 

of  the   murderer."       His   statement  was   shortly 
this : — 

"On  Monday  the  18th  September  he  had  gone 
from  Diesbeck  to  Langenzenn,  determined  in  con- 
sequence of  his  misfortunes  to  leave  his  native 
country  and  to  enlist  as  a  soldier  in  Bohemia. 
While  sitting  in  a  melancholy  mood  by  the  road- 
side near  Langenzenn,  two  men,  followed  by  a 
couple  of  dogs,  came  up  to  him,  asked  what  was 
the  matter,  and,  on  hearing  his  distress,  expressed 
great  interest  in  his  fate.  They  told  him  that  they 
were  hop-merchants,  of  the  name  of  Schlemmer, 
from  Hersbruck ;  that  they  were  brothers,  and  had 
rich  relations  in  Bohemia,  whither  they  were  going 
with  a  cargo  of  hops,  and  offered  to  take  him  with 
them  to  Bohemia,  where  he  would  be  sure  to  find 
employment.  They  added  that  on  the  moiTow 
or  the  next  day  (Wednesday,  the  day  of  the  mur- 
der) they  should  be  going  with  a  hop-cart  into 
Niirnberg,  where  they  had  a  cousin,  a  corn-chand- 
ler, of  the  name  of  Biiumler,  who  lived  near  the 
church  of  St.  Laurence.  On  the  following  day, 
the  19th  September,  he  went  to  Niirnberg,  walked 
up  and  down  the  street  near  the  church  of  St. 
Laurence,  inquired  of  a  barber  for  Baumler,  and 
asked  '  who  the  woman  in  the  house  might  be.' 
He  was  told  it  was  the  maid.  He  waited  in  vain 
till  six  in  the  evening  for  the  Schlemmers ;  and 
tlien  returned  to  the  suburb  of  St.  Johns,  and  slept 
in  the  shed.  On  the  following  morning,  the  20th 
September,  he  again  went  into  the  town,  and  after 
wandering  about  until  four  in  the  afternoon,  the 
thought  struck  him  that  he  would  go  and  take  leave 
of  his  sisters  before  starting  for  Bohemia.  On  this 
occasion  his  sister  Walburga  gave  him  an  axe,  with 
the  request  that  he  would  take  it  to  the  grinder 
at  Niirnberg,  whence  she  would  fetch  it  herself. 
At  about  five  o'clock,  as  he  was  going  with  the 
2  B  2 


18  REMARKABLE    CRIMINAL    TRIALS. 

axe  to  the  grinder,  he  met  the  Schlcmmers,  who 
asked  him  to  carry  a  letter  to  the  post  for  them  as 
quickly  as  possible,  offering  to  take  care  of  the 
axe  in  the  meantime,  and  to  wait  for  him  where 
they  then  stood.  After  putting  the  letter  into  the 
post  he  returned  to  the  spot,  but  did  not  find  the 
Schlemmers,  and  passed  the  time  in  walking  up 
and  down  the  street  until  about  six  o'clock,  when 
he  went  into  Baumlor's  house  and  drank  some  red 
clove-brandy.  At  a  quarter  before  ten,  when  all  the 
other  guests  were  gone,  the  Schlemmers  at  length 
arrived,  and  Baumler  greeted  them  as  cousins. 
Soon  after  they  sent  him  to  wait  in  the  Carolino- 
strasse  for  their  cart,  which  was  coming  from 
Fiirth,  drawn  by  two  white  horses.  This  he  did  ; 
and  soon  after  a  quarter  to  ten  the  two  Schlem- 
mers came  to  him,  carrying  a  trunk  between  them, 
and  one  of  them  with  a  white  parcel  under  his  ami. 
At  this  moment  the  cart  drove  up  with  two  men 
in  it,  to  whom  the  Schlemmers  said  that '  they  had 
had  great  luck ;  they  had  won  the  great  prize.' 
They  then  made  him  get  into  the  cart  with  them. 
But  at  the  gate  of  the  town  they  told  him  that  as 
they  had  had  such  luck  they  should  not  go  into 
Bohemia  ;  but  that,  in  order  to  show  him  how 
kindly  they  felt  towards  him,  they  would  give  him 
something  which  might  assist  him  in  his  own  coun- 
try. They  then  gave  him  the  white  parcel  which 
one  of  them  had  under  his  arm,  and  at  the  same 
time  returned  the  axe  to  him.  He  then  went  back 
to  the  suburb  of  St.  John,  and  on  opening  the  par- 
cel found  in  it  a  greatcoat,  a  pair  of  boots,  a  pair 
of  trowsers,  and  three  bags  of  money." 

During  the  whole  of  this  examination,  which 
with  the  questions  and  answers  took  up  six  full 
hours,  the  prisoner  stood  in  the  same  position, 
without  once  sitting  down  on  the  chau-  which  the 
judge  offered  him.      The  story  flowed  from  his 


JOHN    PAUL    FOUSTER.  19 

lips  as  glibly  as  thougli  it  had  been  learnt  by  rote, 
and  he  looked  the  judge  full  in  the  face  the  while  ; 
but  when  he  was  cross-examined  about  the  ap- 
pearance, figure,  dress,  &c.  of  the  two  Schlem- 
mers,  he  became  emban-assed,  spoke  more  slowly, 
hesitated  and  considered,  and  avoided  the  eyes  of 
the  judge. 

That  no  such  people  as  the  brothers  Schlemmer 
were  to  be  found  at  Hersbruck  or  elsewhere  was 
of  course  to  be  expected.  But  that  Forster  had 
accomplices  was  in  fact  implied  in  this  statement. 
This  had  been  suspected  by  the  judge  from  the 
very  beginning ;  and  indeed  it  seemed  scarcely 
credible  that  one  man  should  be  able  to  murder 
two  people  almost  at  the  same  moment,  and  in  so 
public  a  street.  Besides,  the  mere  act  of  killing 
was  not  all ;  several  other  arrangements  and  pre- 
cautions were  necessary  to  prevent  interruption 
and  discovery.  At  the  very  moment  when  the 
maid  was  in  all  probability  on  her  way  home,  a 
few  seconds  after  the  murder  of  Baumler,  the  glass 
door  had  to  be  taken  off,  the  other  door  to  be 
placed  on  the  hinges,  and  the  bell  to  be  stopped, 
and  then  the  maid  was  let  in  and  murdered.  The 
commodes,  chests,  and  closets  up-stairs  were  to  be 
broken  open  and  rifled.  This  apparently  requir- 
ed several  pairs  of  hands.  Moreover  Forster  him- 
self had  said,  while  sitting  in  Baumler's  shop,  that 
he  was  waiting  for  his  companion,  who  was  gone 
to  the  play.  The  maid  too,  when  she  bought  the 
rolls,  spoke  of  several  fellows  who  were  still  at  her 
master's  house.  One  of  the  watchmen  set  to  guard 
the  waggons  stated  that  he  saw  a  suspicious-look- 
ing man  standing  with  folded  arms  gazing  at  Baum- 
ler's house ;  and  Walburga,  Forster's  sister,  de- 
clared that  when  her  brother  gave  her  back  the  axe 
she  saw,  at  a  distance  of  fifty  paces,  a  person  with 
a  white  api-on,  whom  she  took  for  Margaret  Preiss. 


20  REMARKABLE    CRIMINAL    TRIALS. 

A  few  days  after  Forster  had  been  confined  in  the 
fortress  at  Nurnborg,  on  the  28th  September,  at 
eleven  o'clock  at  night,  two  men  were  seen  by  the 
sentinel  looking  up  at  the  window  of  Forster's  room, 
and  on  his  approach  they  ran  away.  Another  time 
the  sentinel  saw  two  men  lying  under  a  tree  on  the 
bank  of  the  river  close  beneath  the  fortress  ;  on  his 
calling  out  "  Who's  there  V  they  only  answered 
the  challenge  by  a  volley  of  stones  :  the  sentinel  at 
length  fired,  whereupon  they  ran  away. 

The  presumption  that  the  murders  and  rob- 
bery were  committed  by  several  accomplices  was 
strengthened  by  statements  made  by  some  of  Biium- 
ler's  acquaintances,  that  he  had  at  that  time  a  sum  of 
1500  or  2000  florins  in  his  house  in  ready  money, 
for  the  purpose  of  purchasing  a  stock  in  trade; 
whereas  after  the  murder  little  or  no  cash  was 
found  in  the  house,  and  the  whole  sum  in  Forster's 
possession  did  not  amount  to  much  more  than  360 
florins.  All  these  circumstances  certainly  encou- 
raged the  idea  that  he  must  have  had  accomplices 
who  shared  the  booty  with  him. 

The  judge  was  accordingly  called  upon  to  exert 
all  his  sagacity  in  endeavoring  to  discover  Fors- 
ter's accomplices,  as  well  as  in  examining  the  evi- 
dence against  the  prisoner  himself  An  extensive 
correspondence  was  set  on  foot,  witnesses  were  ex- 
amined, journeys  undertaken,  as  far  even  as  Frank- 
fort-on-the-Main  ;  the  faintest  shadow  of  suspicion 
was  eagerly  pursued  ;  all  persons  of  doubtful  char- 
acter, all  who  had  been  in  any  way  connected  with 
Forster  or  his  sister  Walburga,  all  the  convicts  who 
had  been  acquainted  with  him  in  prison  or  since 
his  release,  were  examined,  and  many  arrested. 
But  after  the  court  and  the  police  had  resorted  to 
every  possible  means  of  detection,  and  had  exhaust- 
ed all  their  ingenuity  in  the  pursuit  of  evidence, 
they  found  themselves  at  exactly  the  same  point 


JOHN    PAUL    FORSTER.  21 

whence  they  had  started.  In  most  cases  the  inno- 
cence of  the  sus^^ected  persons  immediately  appear- 
ed upon  investigation  ;  and  all  those  to  whom  the 
slightest  suspicion  could  attach  proved  most  satis- 
factory alibis.  In  short,  we  are  persuaded  that  if 
so  much  zeal  and  ingenuity  failed  in  making  any 
further  discovery,  it  was  solely  because  there  was 
nothintr  to  discover. 

O 

The  remarkable  coincidence  between  the  wounds 
upon  both  corpses,  renders  it  in  the  highest  degi'ee 
probable  that  they  were  inflicted  by  the  same  hand. 

The  danger  and  difficulty  of  such  an  entei-prise 
vanish  as  we  become  better  acquainted  with  the 
character  of  Forster,  a  villain  who  united  to  great 
bodily  strength,  and  a  hand  trained  to  strike,  very 
uncommon  acuteness  and  a  determined  \\'ill — one 
who  perceived  at  a  glance  whatever  opportunities 
offered  themselves,  and  instantly  seized  them ; 
who  pursued  his  purpose  with  a  clear  head  and  a 
cold  heart — whom  no  impediments  could  discon- 
cert, no  horrors  dismay.  To  such  a  man  the 
greater  and  more  daring  the  scheme,  the  more  in- 
viting it  would  appear.  But  the  whole  can  be  ea- 
sily explained  without  supposing  either  the  exist- 
ence of  accomplices,  or  of  any  very  extraordinary 
courage  in  the  one  murderer.  Forster  had  devo- 
ted several  days  to  watching  Baumler's  house  and 
finding  out  his  habits.  His  long  stay  in  the  shop 
on  the  evening  of  the  murder  made  him  thoroughly 
acquainted  with  the  place,  and  gave  him  an  oppor- 
tunity of  observing  everything,  and  of  seizing  the 
most  favorable  moment  for  the  execution  of  his 
purpose.  As  soon  as  the  maid  had  left  the  house, 
Forster  suddenly  attacked  Baumler,  who  was  sit- 
ting upon  his  low  seat  by  the  stove,  and  felled  him, 
dead  or  dying,  to  the  ground,  with  one  blow  of  the 
axe  which  he  had  hitherto  concealed.  He  must 
then  have  hastened  to  the  entrance  of  the  shop, 


22  REMARKABLE    CRIMINAL    TRIALS. 

bent  back  the  bell,  stuffed  it  with  paper,  taken  the 
glass  door  off  its  hinges,  sliiit  and  locked  the  fold- 
ing-door, and  hidden  himself  behind  it.    On  Shiitz's 
return  he  opened  the  door  to  let  her  in,  and  must 
have  struck  her  from  behind  with  his  murderous 
weapon,  as  was  shown  by  the  fracture  in  her  skull, 
and  then  dispatched  her  in  the  comer  of  the  shop. 
Biiumler's  house  was  so  small,  and  everything  so 
conveniently  placed,  that  to  unhinge  the  glass  door, 
to  fix  the  wooden  one,  and  to  prepare  everything 
for  the  murder  of  the  maid,  would  scarce  require 
more  than  half  a  minute.     Besides,  Forster  had  so 
often  walked  up  and  down  the  sti'eet,  and  so  care- 
fully examined  the  ground,  that  he  could  exactly 
calculate  the  time  it  would  take  the  maid  to  go  to 
and  return  from  the  baker's,  and  his  cool  head  was 
not  disturbed  by  the  sight  of  blood.     It  can  easily 
be  exjjlained  why  none  of  the  neighbors  heard  a 
scream  ;   the  blows  aimed  by  the  steady  hand  of 
the  murderer  ^vith  the  heavy  axe,  were  so  sudden 
and  so  tremendous,  that  they  must  have  instantly 
deprived  the  victims  of  consciousness,  if  not  of  life. 
Another  circumstance  strongly  corroborates  the 
opinion  that  only  one  person  was  concerned  in  the 
murder  and  robbery :  many  articles  of  value,  be- 
longing   to    Biiumler,   were    found   in    his   house. 
Several  accomplices  in  robbery  and  murder  would 
not  have  left  such  booty  behind ;  but  Forster,  to 
whom  time  was  valuable,  took  only  what  he  most 
wanted — money,  and  such  clothes  as  first  fell  into 
his  hands.     That  Baumler  had  as  much  as  1500  or 
2000  florins  in  the  house  was  a  mere  supposition. 
If  even  he  had  wanted  so  much  for  the  purchase  of 
stores,  it  does  not  follow  that  he  would  have  kept 
such   a  sum  in  hard  money  by  him.     After  his 
death,  too,  it  appeared  that  common  re2:>ort  had 
greatly  magnified  his  wealth. 

It  was  clearly  proved  that  Forster  was  the  only 


JOHN    PAUL    FORSTER.  23 

guest  left  in  Baumler's  house  after  nine  o'clock. 
Had  one  or  more  accomplices  joined  him  then, 
they  would  have  called  for  brandy  as  an  excuse 
for  staying;  but  on  the  following  morning,  only 
one  glass — that  out  of  which  Forster  had  drunk 
— was  found  upon  the  table. 

Moreover,  Forster  had  been  seen  about  Niim- 
berg  by  many  persons  for  several  days  before  the 
murder,  especially  in  the  street  near  Baumler's 
house,  and  always  alone.  During  this  time  no  one 
came  near  him  who  could  be  in  the  slightest  degree 
suspected  of  being  his  accomplice,  either  at  Dies- 
beck,  before  he  went  to  Niirnberg  to  commit  the 
murder,  or  after  he  had  returned  to  Diesbeck  by 
way  of  Fiirth,  after  accomplishing  it.  We  must, 
indeed,  except  his  sister  Walburga,  and  Margaret 
Preiss,  but  both  completely  proved  alibis. 

If  he  had  accomplices,  it  is  strange  that  all  clue 
to  them  was  lost,  while  every  species  of  e^^dence 
accumulated  against  Forster. 

It  is  true  that  Forster  told  Baumler  and  the  other 
guests  that  he  was  waiting  for  the  return  of  his  com- 
rade from  the  play  ;  but  a  stranger  requires  some 
excuse  for  staying  from  six  till  nine  in  the  same 
tavern. 

The  baker's  wife,  fi'om  whom  Anna  Schiitz  bought 
the  rolls,  certainly  understood  her  to  say  that  there 
were  still  several  fellows  at  Baumler's  house,  but  the 
poor  girl  was  already  several  paces  distance  fi-om 
the  shop  when  she  answered ;  and  if  we  consider 
the  unimportance  of  the  question  and  answer,  and 
the  allowances  to  be  made  for  the  ti'eachery  of 
memory,  it  seems  very  uncertain  whether  the 
baker's  wdfe  accurately  heard  or  remembered  what 
the  maid  had  said.  Moreover,  she  said  that  Anna 
Schiitz  was  very  angry  at  being  sent  out  so  late, 
and  anger  is  not  apt  to  measure  words  very 
coiTCCtly. 


24  REMARKABLE    CRIMINAL    TRIALS. 

The  suspicious-looking  fellow,  whom  the  watch- 
man Wei-smuller  saw  in  the  street  ojiposite  Biium- 
ler's  house,  at  a  quarter  past  nine,  was  in  all  prob- 
ability Forster  himself"  who  may  have  made  some 
excuse  for  leaving  Ejiumler's  shop  for  a  moment, 
in  order  to  see  whether  there  were  many  people 
about,  or  to  fetch  the  axe,  which  he  may  have 
hidden  somewhere  near  the  house, 

Walburga's  statement,  that  on  the  night  of  the 
murder  she  saw  some  one  at  a  distance  of  about 
fifty  yards  behind  her  brother,  deserves  little  at- 
tention, not  only  because  it  was  dark  at  the  time, 
but  also  because  she  evidently  wished  to  gain  im- 
portance in  the  eyes  of  the  court  by  making  inter- 
esting revelations. 

The  accidental  circumstance  of  two  men  looking 
up  at  the  Bridewell  at  eleven  o'clock  at  night,  on 
the  28th  September,  could  only  be  of  consequence 
if  it  were  j)rovcd  that  they  looked  up  not  from 
mere  curiosity,  but  with  the  knowledge  that  it  was 
Forster's  window  at  which  they  were  looking. 
The  second  occurrence  on  the  31st  October  pro- 
bably had  no  connection  whatever  with  any  of 
the  prisoners  :  the  two  men  who  were  then  lying 
under  the  tree  by  the  Pegnitz  were  most  likely  a 
couj)le  of  drunken  fellows  who  amused  themselves 
by  throwing  stones  at  the  sentinel,  but  who  naturally 
ran  away  when  he  discharged  his  musket. 

The  special  inquisition  to  which  Paul  Foi'ster, 
his  sister  Walburga,  and  Margaret  Preiss  were  first 
subjected,  on  the  7th  November,  1820,  produced 
nothing  of  importance  against  Forster.  He  undei'- 
went  thirteen  long  examinations,  in  which  he  had 
to  answer  one  thousand  three  hundred  and  thirteen 
questions,  besides  confi-ontations  with  innumerable 
witnesses ;  but  no  confession  could  be  wrung  from 
him.  Animated  by  a  spirit  as  powerful  and  endur- 
ing as  his  bodily  frame,  he  often  stood  during  his 


JOHN    PAUL   FORSTER.  25 

examinations  fox* five  or  six  hours  on  the  same  spot, 
and  nothing:  ever  made  him  flinch  or  waver.  Once 
in  the  Bridewell  he  said  to  some  of  his  companions, 
that  "  if  he  ever  got  into  trouble  again,  he  would 
persist  in  denial  until  his  tongue  turned  black  and 
rotted  in  his  mouth,  and  his  body  was  bent  double." 
After  his  discharge  he  said  the  same  thing  to  his 
sister  and  to  Wolflin.  Indeed,  he  combined  in  his 
person  all  the  qualities  which  could  enable  him  to 
resist  truth  even  when  most  evident.  He  was  a 
man  whom  no  question  could  embarrass  and  no 
admonition  disconcert.  He  had  considered  before- 
hand the  whole  array  of  evidence  against  him  as 
carefully  as  the  judge  himself.  Thus  nothing  took 
him  by  surprise ;  there  was  nothing  for  which  he 
was  unprepared.  He  clung  to  his  fable  of  the  two 
hop-merchants  like  the  shipwrecked  sailor  to  the 
jDlank  which  is  to  convey  him  to  shore.  This  tale, 
in  which  he  never  varied  the  smallest  circumstance, 
although  he  admitted  that  unfortunately  for  him  no 
one  would  believe  it,  always  afforded  him  a  loop- 
hole by  which  to  escape  from  the  most  convincing 
facts  or  fi'om  the  clearest  evidence.  His  presence 
in  Baumler's  house,  the  axe  with  which  the  murder 
was  committed,  Baumler's  clothes  found  upon  him, 
did  not,  according  to  his  version  of  the  matter, 
criminate  him,  but  the  two  hop  merchants.  His 
confession  of  the  murder  to  his  sister,  and  the  fact 
that  his  boots  were  bloody,  rested  merely  on  her 
testimony,  and  he  positively  denied  both  to  her  face. 
He  accounted  for  the  blood  on  his  brown  coat  and 
that  on  Baumler's  green  one  by  some  incredible 
fiction.  All  means  of  attack  recoiled  from  his 
iron  soul ;  neither  the  bloody  clothes,  nor  the  axe, 
nor  confi'ontation  with  his  sister  and  other  witness- 
es, could  shake  him.  If  a  passing  flush  or  pale- 
ness, or  a  downcast  eye,  occasionally  betrayed 
surprise  and  cmban'assment,  it  was  but  for  a  nio- 

C 


26  REMARKABLE    CRIMINAL    TRIALS. 

ment,  and  he  quickly  recovered  his  self-possession. 
When  the  axe  was  produced,  his  changing  color 
and  rolling  eye  betrayed  the  fearful  emotion  with- 
in ;  but  his  voice  and  his  answers  remained  un- 
shaken. Upon  being  confronted  with  his  sister 
Walburga,  he  seemed  confused,  his  color  fled,  and 
his  hands  trembled ;  but  he  still  preserved  so  com- 
plete a  command  over  himself  as  to  look  her  full 
in  the  face  whilst  he  denied  the  most  manifest 
truths.  During  the  whole  special  inquisition,  the 
emotions  he  exhibited  were  those  of  a  wild  beast 
suddenly  caught  in  a  net,  vainly  seeking  an  outlet 
by  which  to  escape  from  the  hunters  who  surround 
him.  When  the  judge  animadverted  upon  his 
changing  color  or  his  embarrassed  air,  he  replied 
with  perfect  truth,  "  It  is  quite  possible  for  an  in- 
nocent man  to  seem  more  embarrassed  than  a  guilty 
one  :  the  latter  knows  exactly  what  he  has  done  ; 
the  former  feels  that  he  cannot  prove  his  inno- 
cence." He  concealed  his  obstinacy  under  an 
assumption  of  calmness,  gentleness,  and  piety,  as 
if  humbly  submitting  to  a  fate  he  did  not  desei-ve. 
"  I  see  plainly,"  said  he  in  his  last  examination, 
"  that  I  cannot  escape  unless  the  Schlemmers  are 
taken.  I  have  therefore  nothing  to  do  but  to  pray 
to  God  that  he  will  enlighten  my  judges  and  enable 
them  to  distinguish  between  guilt  and  innocence, 
between  the  possible  and  the  impossible.  In  this 
case  guilt  and  innocence  touch,  and  I  have  no  means 
of  proving  my  innocence."  The  following  cir- 
cumstance will  give  some  idea  of  his  cunning,  hypo- 
crisy, and  dissimulation  : — During  the  trial  a  cer- 
tain John  Wagner,  who  had  formerly  been  in  prison 
with  him  at  Schwabach,  was  confronted  with  him 
to  give  evidence  touching  expressions  which  Forster 
had  dropped  concerning  some  scheme  for  future 
crimes.  Wagner,  on  this  occasion,  accused  him  of 
stealing  a  pair  of  silk  braces.     Forster  denied  the 


JOHN    PAUL    FORSTER.  27 

charge,  and  even  when  the  braces  were  produced 
in  court  and  identified  by  Wagner,  he  persisted 
in  his  denial.  But  in  the  solitude  of  his  prison  he 
reflected  that  he  could  turn  this  incident  to  good 
account  in  giving  an  air  of  truth  to  his  falsehoods 
respecting  the  murder.  Accordingly,  after  an  in- 
terval of  two  days,  he  requested  an  audience  and 
appeared  before  the  judge,  with  downcast  looks 
and  trembling  hands,  like  one  bowed  down  by 
shame  and  remorse,  and  confessed  in  a  circumstan- 
tial manner  that  "  he  had  given  way  to  the  tempta- 
tions of  Satan  and  had  stolen  Wagner's  silk  braces." 
This  repentant  confession  was  doubtless  intend- 
ed to  convince  the  judge  that  one  whose  tender 
conscience  could  not  bear  even  the  burden  of  a 
stolen  pair  of  braces  would  be  still  less  able  to 
endure  the  remorse  which  must  follow  a  double 
murder. 

Towards  the  close  of  the  trial  he  must  have  seen, 
and  indeed  he  acknowledged  as  much,  that,  in  spite 
of  his  courage,  obstinacy,"  and  cunning,  truth  could 
not  be  overpowered  by  fables  and  evasions.  His 
obstinate  perseverance  in  denial  must  therefore  be 
attributed  not  only  to  a  hope  of  thus  avoiding  cap- 
ital punishment,  but  also  to  pride.  Impressed  with 
a  con\'iction  of  his  owai  mental  superiority,  and 
ambitious  of  a  character  for  dauntless  courage  and 
immovable  strength  of  will,  he  was  resolved  not 
to  allow  the  judge  to  gain  the  slightest  advantage 
over  his  feelings  or  his  understanding.  If  be  must 
fall,  at  least  he  would  fall  like  a  hero.  If  he  could 
not  avoid  the  fate  of  a  criminal,  he  would  avoid 
the  disgi-ace  of  a  confession  wrung  fi-om  weakness 
or  cowardice.  Men  might  shudder  at  him,  but  his 
fearful  crimes  should  excite  wonder,  not  conternpt. 
The  murder  of  Baumler  and  his  maid  was  a  crime 
which  any  common  villain  might  commit ;  but  to 
stand  unmoved  by  all  the  dangers  which  followed 


28  REMARKAULE    CRIMINAL    TRIALS. 

the  deed,  to  bid  defiance  to  truth,  to  the  skill  of 
the  judge — to  behold  the  most  tciTiblo  sights 
with  a  steady  gaze,  and  without  one  feeling  of 
pity  ;  to  turn  a  deaf  ear  to  the  admonitions  of  con- 
science ;  to  remain  firm  in  the  dreadful  solitude  of 
the  cell,  as  well  as  in  the  presence  of  the  court  ;  — 
this  it  was  which  raised  him,  in  his  own  estimation, 
far  above  the  common  herd  of  criminals. 

Forster  escaped  capital  punishment  in  spite  of 
the  strong  circumstantial  evidence  against  him,  as 
no  confession  could  be  extorted  from  him,  and  as 
there  were  no  competent  eye-witnesses  to  the  mur- 
der. Sentence  to  this  effect  was  accordingly  passed 
upon  him  on  the  22d  July,  1821 : — 

"  That  John  Paul  Forster  is  convicted  of  the 
murder  of  the  chandler  Baumler  and  of  his  maid- 
servant, on  the  night  of  the  20th  September,  1820, 
and  that  he  is  condemned  to  impi'isonment  for  life 
in  chains." 

His  sister  Walburga  was  convicted  of  aiding 
and  abetting  the  murder  committed  by  her  brother, 
and  sentenced  to  twelve  months'  imprisonment 
in  the  house  of  correction.  Margaretha  Preiss  was 
acquitted. 

Imprisonment  in  chains  annihilates  civil  exist- 
ence, as  completely  as  death  puts  an  end  to  physi- 
cal life.  It  deprives  a  man  forever  of  his  rights 
as  a  citizen,  a  husband,  and  a  father ;  of  honor, 
property,  and  freedom  ;  nothing  is  left  him  but 
bare  life  passed  in  slavery  and  chains.  Evidence 
of  guilt  strong  enough  to  justify  such  a  punish- 
ment ought  to  entail  that  of  death.  In  case  of  er- 
ror, the  hardship  is  equally  great,  as  it  is  no  more 
possible  to  restore  a  man  to  civil  life  after  the  exe- 
cution of  this  sentence,  than  to  resuscitate  him  after 
his  head  has  been  cut  off.  The  Bavarian  code 
affords  no  means  of  relief  for  the  man  dead  in  law ; 
how,  indeed,  could  he  recover  his  property  fiom 


JOHN    PAUL    FORSTER.  29 

his  heirs,  or  claim  his  wife  then  living  in  lawful 
wedlock  with  another  1  In  a  word,  in  cases  in 
which  the  State  hesitates  to  award  capital  punish- 
ment, it  should  equally  refrain  from  inflicting  this 
sentence  of  death  in  life. 

The  Bavarian  law  directs  that  the  criminal  be 
previously  exposed  for  one  hour,  if  possible,  on  the 
spot  where  the  crime  was  committed,  in  chains, 
and  with  a  tablet  on  his  breast  specifying  the  na- 
ture of  his  oflence  and  the  sentence  passed  upon 
him.  Thus  a  man  convicted  on  the  clearest  evi- 
dence instructs  the  people  from  the  pilloiy  by  the 
inscription  on  his  breast,  "  Imprisonment  for  two- 
fold murder,"  that  a  man  may  be  convicted  of  such 
crimes  as  these,  and  yet  not  have  deserved  death. 
The  popular  sense,  utterly  unable  to  distinguish 
between  the  niceties  of  legal  evidence,  and  believ- 
ing with  blunt  simplicity  that  conviction  is  convic- 
tion, and  that  guilt  is  guilt,  must  be  strangely  puz- 
zled and  disturbed  in  its  faith  in  the  justice  of  the 
laws  and  the  impartiality  of  those  who  administer 
it.  The  most  ignorant  of  the  people  are  aware 
that  the  guilty  occasionally  escape,  from  want  of 
evidence ;  but  that  a  murderer  publicly  and  sol- 
emnly denounced  as  guilty  should  escape  the  pun- 
ishment incurred  by  his  crime,  owing  to  some  mere 
technical  objection,  is  far  beyond  the  comprehen- 
sion of  the  most  intelligent  among  them,  and  utterly 
repugnant  to  their  sense  of  justice. 


John  Paul  Forster  was  born  on  tne  22d  Janu- 
ary, 1791,  and  professed  the  Lutheran  faith.  His 
father  and  his  sisters  Walburga  and  Catherine  lived, 
as  we  have  before  mentioned,  in  the  suburb  of  St. 
John,  and  the  whole  family  belonged  to  a  sect  of 
chosen  brethren  who  do  as  little  work  as  possible, 
in  order  that  they  may  have  more  time  for  praying, 

c  2 


oil  REMARKABLE    CRIMINAL    TRIALS. 

singing  hymns,  and  reading  the  Bible,  and  who 
compound  with  heaven  foi'  their  vices  by  tlieir  so- 
called  piety. 

Forster  has  given  a  very  circumstantial  account 
of  his  own  life  and  character,  not  only  in  his  evi- 
dence before  the  court,  but  also  in  a  MS.  composed 
by  himself  in  1817-18,  during  his  imprisonment  at 
Schwabach,  and  entitled  "  The  Romance  of  my 
Life  and  Loves."  In  this  autobiogTaphy  truth  and 
fiction  are  so  closely  blended,  that  it  is  scarce  pos- 
sible to  say  where  the  one  begins  and  the  other 
ends.  But  the  manner  in  which  he  speaks  of  him- 
self, and  of  his  real  and  fictitious  adventures,  gives 
an  exact  picture  of  the  inmost  workings  of  his 
mind,  and  serves  as  a  key  to  his  character. 

As  a  child,  his  quiet  prudent  behavior  distin- 
guished him,  as  he  assures  us,  from  other  boys. 
While  his  brother  was  running  about  the  streets, 
playing  or  fighting  with  his  companions,  and  often 
returning  home  with  torn  clothes  or  a  bloody 
nose,  Forster's  delight  was  to  sit  in  a  neighboring 
pubUc-house  where  the  good  burghers  of  the  town 
were  wont  to  spend  their  leisure  hours  at  the  game 
of  loto.  Here  he  would  do  them  small  services, 
by  which  he  not  only  gained  many  a  penny,  but 
also  the  "  respect  of  the  whole  company,  and  the 
name  of  good  little  Paul."  When  he  was  in  his 
eighth  year  a  Prussian  nobleman  came  to  live  in  a 
house  in  the  garden  which  Forster's  father  cul- 
tivated.    Baron   von  D had  two  children  of 

the  same  age  as  Paul  Forster,  and  the  "  good  little 
Paul"  occasionally  had  the  honor  of  associating 
with  these  young  nobles.  He  earned  their  toys, 
fetched  their  bread  and  butter,  and  insinuated 
himself  into  their  good  gi'aces  by  waiting  upon 
them  "as  if  he  had  really  been  theii-  sei-vant." 
He  seems  to  have  been  as  proud  of  acting  tlie 
part  of  a  lackey  to  these  boys  as  if  he  had  become 


JOHN    PAUL    FORSTER.  31 

a  baron  himself.  "My  conduct,"  says  he,  "pleased 
the  noble  parents  so  much,  that  they  every  day  re- 
newed their  invitation  to  me.  My  other  compan- 
ions now  began  to  treat  me  with  indifference,  and 
even  with  contempt.  My  brother  Christopher 
looked  at  me  coldly,  and  said,  '  Go  !  I  am  not  good 
enough  for  you  now ;  I  see  you  mean  to  be  a  fine 
gentleman,  since  you  will  not  play  with  us  any 
longer,'  I  excused  myself  civilly,  and  continued 
my  owTi  way  of  life."  In  his  self-satisfied  account 
of  himself  we  trace  the  character  of  an  idle  effemi- 
nate boy,  who  prefers  loitering  about  public-houses 
to  the  natural  enjoyments  of  youth ;  a  prematui'e 
hypocrite,  who  cringes  and  flatters  in  order  to 
worm  himself  into  the  favor  of  strangers,  and  who 
reckons  it  a  high  honor  to  be  the  menial  slave  of  boys 
of  noble  birth,  while  he  despises  his  own  equals. 
The  mixture  of  pride  and  meanness,  of  vanity  and 
coarseness,  and  the  desire  to  bask  in  the  sunshine 
of  nobility,  even  in  the  most  servile  position,  still 
appear  in  the  further  account  of  his  early  life. 
When  he  had  left  school,  he  says  that  "  the  noble 

Baroness  von  D begged  his  father  to  permit 

the  boy  to  enter  her  service."  His  father's  consent 
obtained,  Forster  was  in  the  seventh  heaven.  He 
was  no  longer  called  Paul,  but  John ;  and,  as  a 
reward  for  his  attention  and  care,  dressed  in  a 
grey  livery,  so  that  "  he  might  accompany  his  noble 
master  and  mistress  to  balls  and  assemblies,  and 
thus  learn  the  manners  of  the  fashionable  world." 
This  felicity  did  not,  however,  last  long.  "  My 
father,"  he  says,  "  from  a  regard  to  the  welfare  of 
my  soul,  recalled  me,  and  endeavored  to  impose 
upon  me  the  task  of  learning  the  profession  of  a 
shoemaker ;  but  my  attachment  to  the  nobility  was 
too  strong,  and  I  threatened  to  run  away."  At  last 
Forster  chose  the  trade  of  a  gardener,  because  "a 
gardener  frequently  comes  into  contact  with  gen- 


32  REMARKABLE    CRIMINAL    TRIALS. 

tlefolks."  He  speaks  in  liigla  praise  of  his  own 
proficiency  in  gardening  ;  and,  indeed,  nothing  is 
known  to  his  disadvantage  before  he  entered  the 
army.  About  this  time  the  rector  of  the  parish 
gave  him  the  character  of  being  active,  industrious, 
and  well-behaved.  He  himself  states  that  he  so 
entirely  gained  the  confidence  of  the  owner  of  the 
garden  rented  by  his  master,  that  after  the  death 
of  the  latter  it  was  entrusted  to  his  management, 
which  he  exercised  for  two  years  "  with  gi-eat 
applause,"  at  the  end  of  which  time  he  was  forced 
to  leave  the  place  by  the  tender  importunities  of 
the  gardener's  widow,  a  woman  of  fifty,  who  con- 
ceived a  violent  passion  for  this  "  half-blown  rose- 
bud of  seventeen."  He  next  sei-ved  as  gardener 
in  a  family  where  Babetta,  the  cook,  "  subjugated 
him  by  the  channs  of  her  person,  and  still  more  by 
the  graces  of  her  mind."  The  romance  with  Ba- 
betta was  approaching  its  catastrophe  when,  in 
1807,  "  the  voice  of  his  country  summoned  him  to 
the  musket  of  military  life  ;"  that  is  to  say,  he 
was  drawn  on  the  conscription,  and  enrolled  in  a 
regiment  of  the  line. 

At  this  time  Forster  seems  to  have  entered  ujion 
his  career  of  vice  and  crime  :  the  fact  is,  that  he 
wanted  patience  and  fortitude  to  endure  a  life 
which  thwarted  his  inclinations  and  inortified  his 
pride.  The  day  on  which  he  joined  his  battalion 
was  his  "  first  day  of  humiliation;"  for  his  Babetta 
signified  to  him  that  she  did  not  consider  it  com- 
patible with  her  honor  to  associate  with  a  common 
soldier.  But  the  worst  was  still  to  come.  After 
his  first  drill,  he  exclaims  "Ah,  this  was  the  real 
begiiming  of  my  misej-y  !  From  the  earliest  dawn 
until  the  close  of  day  a  merciless  corporal  was 
busied  in  beating  military  ardor  into  me,  in  twist- 
ing me  about  like  a  puppet,  and  making  me  as  lank 
and  as  supple  as  a  greyhound.    He  scarce  allowed 


JOUN    PAUL    FORSTES.  33 

me  time  to  swallow  my  scanty  rations  ;  and  when 
I  stretched  myself  at  night  upon  my  sack  of  straw, 
I  felt  as  if  I  had  been  broken  upon  the  wheel. 
Bavarian  blows  and  Bavarian  rations  are  an  in- 
fallible remedy  against  love !  During  the  first 
few  weeks  I  seldom  thought  of  my  lovely  Babetta, 
but  often  enough  of  running  away.  I  envied  every 
cobbler  his  golden  leisure,  and  tottered  through  the 
streets  at  midday  like  a  hunted  stag  seeking  a 
spring  of  fresh  water."  The  life  of  a  soldier  never 
ceased  to  be  an  intolerable  burden  to  him.  How 
was  an  efteminate  libertine  to  endure  privations 
and  hardships,  or  sleep  on  hard  boards,  instead  of 
on  his  mistress's  bed  ]  Was  one  so  fond  of  ex- 
istence to  expose  his  person  to  cannon-balls  1  or 
one  so  vain  to  submit  to  the  rude  contact  of  a 
corporal's  stick,  and  to  be  confounded  with  thou- 
sands of  other  men  in  the  dress  of  a  common  sol- 
dier 1  His  ill-regulated  passions  were  fretted  and 
increased  by  control,  and  his  powers  of  dissimula- 
tion called  forth  by  the  severity  of  the  discipline 
under  which  he  was  forced  to  bend.  As  his 
desires  increased  in  violence,  he  grew  more  reck- 
less as  to  the  means  by  which  he  gi-atified  them; 
and  the  frequency  of  his  trials,  imprisonments,  and 
corporal  punishments  only  taught  him  indifference 
to  the  penalty  of  his  crimes. 

In  1808,  when  his  regiment  was  encamped  at 
Fiirth,  he  contrived  to  steal  out  of  his  tent  and 
through  all  the  outposts,  and  went  to  Niirnberg, 
where  he  sjjent  the  night  with  Babetta,  and  crept 
back  early  the  following  morning  to  his  tent.  But 
the  same  day,  on  parade,  he  was  called  out  of  the 
ranks  and  questioned  as  to  his  absence  during  the 
night.  At  first  he  denied  the  charge.  But  when 
he  found  that  the  proofs  were  strong  against  him, 
he  confessed,  making  excuses  for  his  conduct,  "  but 
not,"  he  adds,  "  until  he  saw  that  he  was  cleai'ly 
3 


34  REMARKABLE    CRIMINAL    TRIALS. 

convicted."     Twenty  lashes  were  immediately  in- 
flicted on  him. 

He  made  the  campaign  in  1809  against  Austria; 
was,  according  to  his  own  account,  taken  prisoner, 
ransomed  himself,  and  returned  to  Niirnberg.  In 
1810  he  left  his  barracks, but  returned  aftereighteen 
days'  absence,  and  was  placed  under  aiTOst.  In 
that  year  he  became  acquainted  with  Margaretha 
Preiss,  who  already  had  an  illegitimate  daughter 
by  a  married  man,  but  for  whom  he  conceived  the 
most  violent  and  lasting  passion.  In  1811  a  fur- 
lough was  gi'anted  to  him  for  an  indefinite  time, 
during  which  he  acted  as  gardener  and  tavern- 
keeper  at  a  small  property  near  Adlitz  which  Mar- 
garetha rented  ;  and  he  endeavored,  but  without 
success,  to  obtain  his  discharge,  in  order  to  marry 
his  mistress.  In  1812  he  was  summoned  to  join 
his  regiment.  At  Adlitz  he  committed  several 
petty  thefts.  He  stole  an  umbrella  and  a  shawl 
from  one  of  the  guests  in  his  garden,  for  which  he 
was  punished  in  the  following  year  by  order  of  his 
commanding  officer.  It  is  extremely  probable  that 
he  committed  gi'eatcr  thefts,  as  he  relates  that  he 
was  able  to  lend  out  at  interest  two  sums,  one  of 
600  florins,  another  of  250.  In  1813  he  deserted, 
and  wandered  about  for  eleven  weeks,  living  chief- 
ly in  the  woods  :  at  the  end  of  which  time  he  went 
back  to  Margaretha,  who  then  rented  a  small  pub- 
lic-house at  the  suburb  of  St.  John  at  Niirnberg, 
where  he  was  discovered  soon  after.  He  was  con- 
demned for  desertion  and  theft  to  run  the  gauntlet 
three  times  backwai'ds  and  forwards  through  one 
hundred  and  fifty  men,  and  to  six  additional  years 
of  military  service.  On  the  very  day  of  his  pun- 
ishment he  deserted  again,  was  again  taken,  and 
again  received  the  same  sentence.  This  lesson 
also  was  vain.  In  1815  he  was  again  subjected  to 
a  criminal  trial  for  desertion,  theft,  and  conspiracy 


JOHN    PAUL    FORSTER.  35 

with  a  younger  sister  of  his  mistress  to  extort  mo- 
ney, and  was  drummed  out  of  the  regiment. 

This  long  wished-for  dismissal  from  the  service, 
disjn-aceful  as  it  was,  at  length  rewarded  him  for 
the  indomitable  obstinacy  and  indifference  to  dis- 
grace which  he  had  displayed  for  so  many  years, 
in  a  stubborn  neglect  of  his  duties. 

From  this  time  forward  he  led  an  idle  and  disso- 
lute life,  occasionally  working  as  a  day-laborer, 
but  much  oftener  stealing  and  squandering  the  pro- 
ceeds, which  were  considerable,  with  his  mistress, 
until,  in  1816,  he  was  an'ested  and  tried  before  the 
criminal  court  at  Niirnberg  for  theft  and  house- 
breaking, and  sentenced  to  three  years  and  six 
months'  imprisonment  in  the  House  of  Correction. 
In  consequence  of  his  good  conduct  in  confine- 
ment, he  was  released  at  the  expiration  of  three- 
fourths  of  his  term,  on  the  21st  of  August,  1820, 
exactly  four  weeks  before  the  murder.  He  left 
this  high  school  of  iniquity  firmly  resolved  to  find 
the  means  of  enjoying  permanent  happiness  in  the 
undistm'bed  possession  of  his  mistress,  and  fully 
convinced  that  no  way  to  this  object  save  that  of 
crime  was  open  to  him.  He  had  long  since 
broken  with  virtue  and  honor,  and  Margaretha 
was  his  last  remainins:  link  with  mankind.  As  he 
was  to  depend  upon  crime  for  his  subsistence,  it 
was  indifferent  to  him  what  form  it  took.  He  was 
disposed  to  run  any  risk  in  order  to  obtain  a  large 
sum  of  money,  which  he  might  share  with  Marga- 
retha. He  periled  his  freedom  ;  his  life  he  felt  sure 
of  saving  by  his  cunning,  boldness,  presence  of 
mind,  and  by  the  fixed  determination  never  to  con- 
fess. The  wonderful  stories  he  had  read  of  heroic 
robbers  and  remarkable  criminals,  who  escaped  the 
vengeance  of  justice  by  their  boldness  or  their  cun- 
ning, and  of  celebrated  captives  who  in  the  end 
obtained  their  liberty  by  some  miraculous  accident, 


36:  REMARKABLE   CRIMINAL    TRIALS. 

made  him  see  his  plan  of  life  in  the  light  of  a  ro- 
mance, and  hope  to  enroll  his  name  in  the  list  of 
those  heroes  whose  fame  he  so  much  envied.  Fill- 
ed with  these  hopes  and  schemes,  he  awaited  with 
impatience  the  day  of  his  release,  and  contrived  by 
hypocritical  submissiveness,  repentance,  and  hu- 
mility to  shorten  the  time  of  imprisonment.  Thus 
resolved  for  the  worst,  he  was  thrown  back  upon 
society  its  bitter  foe ;  and  before  a  month  had 
elapsed,  he  signalized  himself  by  a  deed  which, 
for  the  cruelty,  cunning,  and  boldness  with  which 
it  was  planned  and  executed,  has  few  parallels  in 
the  annals  of  crime. 

The  bare  fact  of  writing  his  own  life,  proves 
how  important  a  personage  this  man  considered 
himself.  It  is  true  that,  according  to  the  preface, 
the  work  was  intended  as  a  legacy  for  his  beloved 
Margaretha,  in  the  event  of  his  death ;  but  it  is 
manifestly  written  with  a  view  to  other  readers — 
nay,  perhaps,  even  to  an  honorable  place  on  the 
shelves  of  a  circulating  library. 

This  work,  allowing  for  several  faults  of  spell- 
ing, shows  a  degree  of  information,  cultivation  of 
mind,  and  power  of  comj)osition,  very  unusual  in 
Forster's  class.  Several  anecdotes — for  instance, 
the  account  of  his  childish  amour  with  a  girl  of 
eleven,  of  the  name  of  Wilhelmine,  and  of  his  steal- 
ing out  of  the  camp  at  Fiirth  to  visit  his  mistress 
Babette,  at  Niirnberg — are  told  with  a  clearness, 
simplicity,  and  truth,  that  would  do  credit  to  many 
a  practised  pen.  But  by  far  the  greater  part,  and 
especially  the  long  diffuse  preface,  is  WTitten  in  the 
pompous  inflated  style  of  the  worst  romances.  In 
many  places  he  has  introduced  songs  and  poems 
borrowed  from  the  best  German  authors,  which, 
according  to  his  ovm  account,  he  sang  or  recited 
on  various  occasions,  and  which  he  pretends  to 
have  composed  himself.     His  head  seems  to  have 


JOHN    PAUL    FORSTER.  St 

been  crammed  with  sentimental  phrases  and  ro- 
mantic images,  which  excite  disgust  and  hon'or  in 
the  mouth  of  such  a  being.  This  tiger,  who,  with 
a  hand  reeking  with  the  blood  of  an  old  man,  could 
murder  an  innocent  and  beautiful  girl,  can  talk  "  of 
departed  souls  that  hold  constant  communion  with 
him  ;"  of  the  "  soft  murmur  of  the  evening  breezes, 
and  the  melting  harmony  of  the  senses,  which,  af- 
ter his  death,  would  inform  his  beloved  Margaretha 
that  he  was  near  her  ;"  of  his  "  name,  which  would 
die  away  in  the  shadow  of  the  gi'ave,  like  the  echo 
of  the  songs  of  love  ;"  of  the  "  glancing  of  the  moon- 
beams upon  the  silver  stream  of  the  Pegnitz  :"  and 
of  himself,  in  his  seventeenth  year,  as  "  a  half-blown 
rose  on  a  beautiful  morning  in  spring."  Who 
could  have  recomised  the  murderer  Forster  in  the 
following  passages  ]  "  Ah !  for  one  thing  I  praise 
God,"  says  he  in  his  preface,  apostrophising  Mar- 
garetha ;  "  for  this,  that  our  child,  the  first  fruit  of 
our  love,  sleeps  the  sleep  of  peace  !  When  he  was 
torn  fi-om  me  I  accused  Heaven,  and  could  not  un- 
derstand the  inscrutable  ways  of  God,  but  munnur- 
ed  against  him.  But  now  I  shed  tears  of  joy  that 
he  is  safe,  and  I  pluck  the  flowers  of  the  valley  to 
weave  fresh  garlands  for  his  grave.  Ah !  do  you 
remember  how  I  planted  the  forget-me-nots  upon 
his  little  green  gi'ave  ]  Then  my  heart  knew  not 
God,  and  my  tears  flowed  in  the  violence  of  my 
sorrow.  I  thought  myself  the  most  miserable  of 
men.  I  now  understand  things  better."  No  man 
who  really  feels  thus  can  murder.  Passages  like 
these — and  there  are  many  such — merely  prove 
the  utter  corruption  of  one  who,  cold  and  harden- 
ed as  he  was,  could  use  the  language  of  the  most 
devout  piety  and  ape  the  most  tender  sensibility. 
The  high  principle  and  love  of  virtue,  of  which  he 
boasts,  are  as  false  as  his  sentiment.  He  could  not 
have  forgotten,  while  writing,  that  he  was  then  in 

P 


88  REMARKABLE    CRIMINAL    TRIALS. 

prison  for  theft,  and  yet  he  has  the  shameless  ef- 
frontery to  write  these  words  in  his  preface  : — 
"  Oh,  Margaretha  !  tell  our  daughter  what  present 
help  in  trouble  is  the  innocence  of  the  heart :  how 
it  inspires  us  with  heroic  strength  to  support  the 
heaviest  afiliction."  Who  would  not  attribute  the 
following  phrase  to  a  philosopher  rather  than  to  a 
housebreaker  ]  "I  know  not  which  best  deserves 
the  name  of  heroism, —  that  courage  which  enables 
a  man  to  conceal  his  woes  within  his  own  breast, 
in  order  to  spare  pain  and  sorrow  to  others ;  or 
that  which  induces  him  to  sacrifice  himself  for  the 
preservation  of  another." 

Religion  had  no  real  influence  on  his  mind. 
His  conviction,  as  he  declared  to  a  fellow-prisoner, 
was  that  religion  was  necessary  for  the  sake  of 
public  order.  He  neither  hoped  nor  wished  for 
a  future  life,  for  all  his  desires  centred  in  the 
pleasures  of  this  world.  "  Had  I  but  money  and 
my  mistress,  I  should  wish  to  remain  forever  in 
this  world,  and  never  think  about  another.  The 
wisest  philosophers  and  the  greatest  naturalists 
and  magicians  have  ever  devoted  their  skill  and 
tlieir  knowledge  to  the  art  of  prolonging  human 
life.  They  would  not  have  done  this,  had  they 
thought  there  was  a  future  life."  This  was  the 
confession  of  faith  made  by  him  to  another  fellow- 
prisoner.  Nevertheless,  his  knowledge  of  the 
Bible  might  shame  many  a  clergyman,  and  in  his 
autobiography  he  quotes  passages  from  the  sacred 
volume,  just  as  he  does  phrases  from  romances  and 
stanzas  from  love  poems,  but  more  frequently  and 
with  gi-eater  ostentation.  When  he  wishes  to 
marry,  but  resolves  first  to  consider  the  matter 
more  deeply,  he  refers  himself  to  the  twenty- 
seventh  and  following  verses  of  the  twenty-fifth 
chapter  of  Jesus  Sirach.  When  in  prison,  he 
complains  with  Job  x.  19.     When  released  from 


JOHN    PAUL    FORSTER.  39 

jail  he  exclaims  wth  Daniel  xvi.  22,  "  My  God 
hath  sent  his  angels  and  hath  shut  the  lion's  mouth, 
that  they  have  not  hurt  me :  forasmuch  as  before 
him  innocency  was  found  in  me ;  and  also  before 
thee,  O  king,  have  I  done  no  hurt."  Once,  he 
informs  us,  as  he  was  going  through  a  wood  with 
a  man  who  intended  to  rob  him — or,  as  is  far  more 
likely,  whom  he  intended  to  rob — he  recited  the 
fourth  verse  of  the  seventy-first  Psahn  :  "  Deliver 
me,  O  my  God,  out  of  the  hand  of  the  wicked  ; 
out  of  the  hand  of  the  unrighteous  and  cruel 
man."  He  then  suddenly  called  to  mind  the  pas- 
sage in  the  second  book  of  Moses,  xxi.  23-25, 
"And  if  any  mischief  follow,  then  thou  shalt  give 
life  for  life,  eye  for  eye,  tooth  for  tooth,"  &c. ; 
and  encouraged  thei'eby,  he  took  the  initiative  in 
attacking  the  robber.  Two  other  robbers  then 
came  to  their  comrade's  assistance,  and  began 
unmercifully  to  belabor  the  pious  Forster  with 
their  clubs,  while  he  sang  Luther's  hymn — 

"  I  know  not,  Lord,  where  I  may  die, 
Nor  where  my  grave  may  be." 

But  at  length,  though  tembly  bruised,  he  es- 
caped, and  reached  a  village,  where  a  peasant 
whom  he  entreated  to  give  him  a  night's  lodging, 
refused  him  without  mercy  ;  whereupon  he  with 
the  greatest  civility  recommended  the  man  to  read 
and  carefully  consider  the  nineteenth  and  follow- 
ing verses  of  the  sixteenth  chapter  of  St.  Luke. 

But  false  as  he  is  in  everything  else,  his  entire 
devotion  to  Margaret  Preiss  cannot  be  doubted. 
She  occupies  a  place  in  the  romance  of  his  life  as 
prominent  as  his  own.  Neither  time,  misfortune, 
absence,  disgrace,  nor  imprisonment  was  able  to 
overcome  their  mutual  attachment.  In  spite  of 
all  impediments  he  had  never  abandoned  the  inten- 
tion of  making  this  woman  his  wife.  He  had 
tattooed  on  his  breast  in  red  letters  these  words, 


40  KEMARKABLE    CRIMINAL    TRIALS. 

"  My  heart  is  Margaretha's."  In  the  fortress  of 
Lichtenaii,  where  he  was  to  pass  his  hfe  loaded 
with  chains,  he  said  to  a  felloAV-prisoner,  "  There 
ia  but  one  thing  I  wish — to  see  my  mistress  once 
more,  and  die."  In  his  Life  he  apostrophises  her 
as  "  his  wife  ;"  "  his  noble,  true-hearted  creature ;" 
"  the  beloved  wife  of  his  youth ;"  "a  pious,  gentle 
spirit,  who  loved  him  as  only  angels  love ;"  "  the 
faithful  companion  of  his  journey  through  life." 
In  his  preface  he  longs  "  to  be  buried  by  her  side, 
bedews  her  hair  with  his  tears,  and  presses  it  to 
his  parched  lips." 

For  years  Forster  has  borne  in  dogged  silence 
the  hardships  of  imprisonment,  the  misery  of  civil 
death,  the  burden  of  his  chains,  and  the  still 
heavier  burden  of  a  troubled  conscience.  This 
unbending  obstinacy  is  no  doubt  owing  partly  to 
great  want  of  sensibility,  partly  to  prodigious 
bodily  power  of  endurance,  and  partly  to  a  cow- 
ardly clinging  to  life,  however  wretched  and  de- 
graded, characteristic  of  the  most  contemptible 
sensualists.  He  may  perhaps  also  have  flattered 
himself  with  the  vague  hope  that  his  punishment 
was  only  inflicted  in  order  to  extort  from  him  a 
confession,  and  that  determined  silence  would  in 
the  end  tire  out  the  patience  of  the  court  and 
procure  his  liberation.  But  what  chiefly  strength- 
ened him  in  this  resolution  were  his  romantic 
ideas  of  the  heroic  greatness  displayed  in  his  own 
person.  At  Lichtenau,  before  his  solitary  cell 
was  ready  to  receive  him,  while  he  was  with  the 
other  prisoners,  one  of  them  exhorted  him  to  con- 
fess ;  but  he  replied,  "  Stodfastness  of  purpose  is 
the  chief  ornament  of  a  man  !  He  should  not 
easily  give  up  life  :  however  wretched,  life  is  a 
noble  thing.  Believe  me,  comrade,  whenever  I 
look  upon  my  chains  and  the  ball  attached  to  them, 
I  feel  proud  to  think  that  even  oi;  my  death-bed  . 


JOHN    PAUL    FORSTER.  41 

my  last  breath  shall  be  drawn  with  courage.  In 
my  earliest  days,  whatever  I  undertook,  that  I  did. 
As  I  said  before,  stedfastness  and  secrecy  are 
what  adorn  a  man."  He  treated  his  heavy  chains 
as  a  badge  of  honor,  and  polished  them  in  his 
leisure  hours  till  they  shone  like  silver.  During 
the  early  period  of  his  imprisonment  at  Lichtenau, 
where  the  most  distinguished  villains  enthusiasti- 
cally admired  and  revered  him,  he  condescended 
to  amuse  them  with  stories  of  enchanted  princes 
and  princesses,  fortunate  robbers,  &c.,  to  shorten 
their  long  dreary  evening  hours.  But  one  even- 
ing he  suddenly  declared,  "  Gentlemen,  from  this 
time  forward  I  shall  tell  you  no  more  stories ;  in 
future  I  will  say  nothing  but  yea,  yea,  nay,  nay. 
I  see  plainly  that  things  look  ill  with  me,  and  that 
among  the  worst  I  am  supposed  to  be  the  worst  of 
all."  One  of  his  fellow-prisoners  asked  him 
whether  any  one  had  forbidden  him  to  speak,  or 
whether  he  had  taken  offence  ]  But  he  answered, 
"  No  one  but  my  own  soul,  and  that  has  never 
counselled  me  amiss."  Pride  kept  him  true  to 
his  word  :  from  that  time  forward  he  told  no  more 
stories,  and  answered  only  in  monosyllables.  Thus 
he  stood  alone,  distinguished  from  the  common 
herd  of  malefactors.  He  maintained  this  sullen 
silence  for  years  in  his  solitary  cell,  asking  nothing, 
and  uttering  no  complaint.  He  took  what  was 
offered  to  him,  suffered  anything  to  be  taken 
from  him,  bore  everything  in  sullen  silence  and 
with  apparent  calmness.  He  even  managed  to 
give  an  appearance  of  quiet  submission  to  the 
obstinate  resistance  which  he  offered  to  the  orders 
of  his  superiors.  Some  task  which  was  imposed 
upon  him  seemed  to  him  too  hard  ;  he  left  it 
untouched.  On  being  asked  the  reason,  he  quietly 
answered  that  he  was  unable  to  perform  it.  When 
told  that  if  it  were  not  done  they  would  be  com- 

d2 


42  REMARKABLE    CRIMINAL    TRIALS. 

pellcd  to  punish  him,  he  rephcd  with  perfect  cool- 
ness that  he  could  not  perlorni  impossibilities,  and 
that  they  might  do  as  they  pleased  with  his  body. 
He  oli'ered  his  back  to  the  lash  with  perfect  indif- 
ference, received  the  severest  blows  without  mov- 
ing a  muscle  or  uttering  a  sound,  returned  to  his 
cell  just  as  if  nothing  had  happened,  and  left  the 
work  undone  as  before.  Exhortations  and  repeated 
chastisements  were  of  no  avail ;  the  authorities 
were  at  length  forced  by  his  iron  obstinacy  to  give 
him  some  other  work  that  he  liked  better,  and 
which  he  most  regularly  performed  ever  after. 
He  frequently  read  the  hymn-book  in  prison ; 
listened  to  the  sermon  on  Sundays,  though  without 
much  appearance  of  interest ;  received  the  sacra- 
ment like  the  other  convicts,  whom  he  far  sur- 
passed in  religious  knowledge  ;  and,  with  a  double 
murder  on  his  conscience,  played  the  part  of  a 
patient,  humble,  and  resigned  martyr  to  trutli. 
He  carefully  avoided  making  any  statement  re- 
specting his  crime  ;  and  whoever  questioned  him  at 
all  on  the  subject  was  either  civilly  yet  earnestly 
entreated  to  refrain  from  all  such  inquiries,  or  was 
put  off  with  mysterious  complaints  of  the  ten-ible 
destiny  which  forced  him  forever  to  conceal  a 
dark  secret,  on  the  revelation  of  which  his  inno- 
cence would  instantly  shine  forth  like  the  sun  at 
noonday.  When  hard  pressed,  he  sometimes 
began  to  relate  the  romance  of  the  Schlemmers, 
and  accused  the  Niirnberg  people  as  the  real 
authors  of  his  misfortuTie,  because  the  cry  of  mur- 
derer !  murderer  !  with  which  they  assailed  him 
had  induced  him  to  pretend  ignorance  of  what 
had  happened,  which  first  and  only  falsehood  had 
induced  his  judge  to  disbelieve  his  subsequent 
true  narrative,  and  had  finally  brought  him  to 
these  chains.  Hardened  as  he  was,  however,  it 
appears  that  he  did   not  altogether  escape  from 


JOHN    PAUL    FORSTER.  43 

the  pangs  of  a  guilty  conscience :  he  frequently- 
sighed  deeply ;  and  once,  when  a  lawyer  well 
acquainted  with  the  whole  case  \'isited  him  in 
prison,  vividly  represented  to  him  the  heinousness 
of  his  crime,  spoke  to  him  of  the  heavy  burden  on 
his  conscience,  far  heavier  to  bear  in  silence  than 
the  weight  of  his  chains — and  then  proceeded  to 
describe  the  bloody  scene  of  the  20th  September, 
1820,  and  to  bring  before  him  the  victims  bleeding 
under  the  axe,  and  trodden  under  his  feet,  the 
sullen  countenance  of  the  prisoner  suddenly  flushed 
scai'let,  and  one  present  thought  he  saw  tears  in 
his  eyes.  Some  months  after  this  visit,  an  organ 
was  placed  in  the  chapel  of  the  prison,  and  the 
sacrament  administered  on  the  occasion.  Forster, 
who  had  hitherto  always  displayed  the  most  cal- 
lous indifference,  was  now  deeply  affected.  On 
approaching  the  altar,  supporting  his  chains  and 
the  bullet  in  both  arms,  he  trembled  in  every  limb, 
tears  gushed  from  his  eyes,  and  his  loud  sobs 
filled  the  chapel.  What  he  thought  or  felt,  whether 
the  notes  of  the  organ  pealed  in  his  ear  like  the 
"  Dies  irae,  Dies  ilia,"  could  not  be  discovered. 
When  he  returned  to  his  cell  he  was  sullen  and 
impenetrable  as  befoi'e. 

Forster's  countenance  is  vulgar  and  heavy. 
The  lower  part  of  his  long  nari'ow  face  is  of  a 
length  strangely  disproportioned  to  the  upper; 
this  gives  a  revolting  animal  expression  to  his 
whole  countenance,  which  is  singularly  harsh,  and 
so  unvarying  that  his  head  is  like  a  marble  bust, 
lifeless  but  for  two  large  prominent  eyes,  which 
are  usually  fixed  on  the  ground,  and  filled  with 
rage  and  despair. 


THE  ANTONINI  FAMILY; 

OR, 

THE   MURDER   ON   A   JOURNEY. 


At  four  o'clock  in  the  evening  of  the  26th  No- 
vember, 1809,  Joseph  Antonini  and  his  wife  The- 
resa, both  dressed  as  postilions  d'armee  in  the 
French  service,  drove  up  to  the  door  of  the  post- 
house  at  Maitingen  near  Augsburg,  accompanied 
by  a  beautiful  young  woman  called  Dorothea 
Blankcnfeld.  They  arrived  in  a  can-iage,  had  a 
French  passport  [fcuille  de  route),  and  took  rooms 
at  the  inn.  The  landlord  showed  them  into  two 
adjoining  rooms  on  the  first  floor,  one  of  which 
was  occupied  by  Blankcnfeld,  the  other,  contain- 
ing two  beds,  by  the  Antoninis.  Shortly  after  their 
arrival  a  boy  joined  them,  who  was  not,  however, 
again  seen  in  the  house  imtil  the  following  morn- 
ing. This  was  Carl  Marschall,  the  brother  of  An- 
tonini's  wife. 

About  three  or  four  in  the  morning,  the  post- 
master and  a  postboy  heard  a  piercing  shriek, 
like  that  of  a  child.  The  former  jumped  out  of 
bed  and  listened  at  the  door,  but  lay  down  again 
on  hearing  nothing  further.  Soon  after,  the  boy 
Carl  Marschall  ran  hastily  down  the  stairs,  cover- 
ing his  face  with  his  hands  as  if  he  were  crying,  and 
complained  to  the  postboy  that  his  master  (Anto- 
nini) had  beaten  him.  At  about  six  Antonini  went 
into  the  post-boy's  room  with  a  light,  and  requested 
him  to  make  a  large  fire  in  the  stove  above  stairs, 


THE    ANTONINI    FAMILY.  45. 

as  it  was  bitterly  cold.  His  hand  was  stained  with 
blood,  but  the  postboy  thought  nothing  of  this,  and 
merely  supposed  that  Antonini  had  made  the  boy's 
nose  bleed  by  striking  him. 

On  the  previous  evening  the  strangers  had  an- 
nounced their  intention  of  starting  at  five  in  the 
morning.  But  it  was  past  nine  before  they  were 
ready  to  go.  The  postmaster,  who  was  standing 
at  the  window,  obsei'\'ed  how  busy  they  were  ;  and 
his  attention  was  attracted  by  a  lai'ge  strangely 
shaped  bundle  which  Antonini  and  the  boy  dragged 
out  of  the  house  and  flung  into  the  carriage  :  it 
looked,  he  thought,  just  like  the  carcase  of  a  dead 
dog,  or  of  a  human  being.  At  last  Antonini,  the 
boy  Carl  Marschall,  and  Theresa  Antonini,  who 
was  now  dressed  in  women's  clothes,  got  into  the 
carriage  and  drove  away.  At  that  moment  the 
thought  sti'uck  the  postmaster's  son,  who  was  al- 
ready surprised  by  Theresa's  change  of  dress,  that 
the  young  woman  who  had  an-ived  with  the  party 
on  the  evening  before,  had  not  got  into  the  car- 
riage. This  alarmed  the  people  of  the  house,  who 
hastened  to  the  two  rooms  which  had  been  occu- 
pied by  the  strangers.  The  first  look  showed 
them,  by  the  stains  of  blood  on  the  floor,  the  wall, 
and  the  bed,  that  a  murder  had  been  committed. 
They  instantly  informed  the  local  authorities  of  the 
fact,  and  the  carriage,  which  had  scarcely  gone 
more  than  four  hundred  yards  from  the  door  when 
the  discovery  was  made,  was  immediately  followed, 
and  overtaken  under  the  gates  of  Augsburg.  The 
suspicious-looking  bundle  wrapped  in  a  blue  cloak, 
which  had  been  put  inside  the  carnage  at  Maitin- 
gen,  was  now  tied  up  behind  it.  When  opened  it 
was  found  to  contain  the  body  of  a  woman  covered 
with  wounds. 

When  it  was  shown  by  the  police  to  the  three 
prisoners,  they  recognised  it  as  the  body  of  Doro- 


46  REMARKABLE    CRIMINAL    TRIALS. 

thea  Blankenfeld,  who  had  travelled  with  them  as 
far  as  Maitingen,  and  on  seeing  it  the  boy  at  once 
confessed  that  he  and  his  brotlier-in-law  Antonini 
had  murdered  the  woman.  Antonini  and  his  wife 
denied  that  they  had  any  share  in  the  crime.  They 
said  that  the  boy  had  murdered  her  from  hatred, 
and  without  their  knowledge  ;  and  that  it  was  only 
out  of  charity  to  him  that  they  had  concealed  the 
deed,  but  that  the  boy  was  a  hardened  villain,  who 
had  already  attempted  to  kill  his  father  and  to 
stab  his  sister,  and  that  Antonini  had  taken  him 
away  from  Berlin  in  the  hope  of  reforming  him. 

On  inspecting  the  body,  the  hands  were  found 
much  bruised  and  swollen,  the  collar-bone  broken, 
and  nine  wounds,  apparently  inflicted  with  some 
blunt  instrument,  on  the  brow  and  other  parts  of 
the  head — quite  suflicient,  in  the  physician's  opin- 
ion, to  cause  death.  He  nevertheless  asserted  that 
the  wretched  woman  had  not  died  immediately  of 
her  wounds,  but  had  perished  gradually  under  con- 
tinued violence. 

The  boy  had  openly  confessed  his  share  in  the 
murder,  but  for  a  long  time  the  Antoninis  obsti- 
nately persisted  in  denial.  Carl,  they  said,  had 
done  it  all.  They  continued  to  deny  everything 
save  the  concealment  of  the  murder,  of  which  they 
were  convicted  by  the  clearest  proof.  At  last, 
after  nineteen  long  examinations,  Theresa  Antonini, 
on  being  confi-onted  with  her  brother,  confessed  the 
main  points  of  her  own  share  in  the  deed.  Anto- 
nini, whose  cunning  equalled  his  obstinacy,  en- 
deavored, after  long  though  vain  denial,  to  deceive 
the  judge  by  a  variety  of  false  confessions,  till  at 
length  he  was  confronted  with  his  wife,  and  forced 
to  confess  the  truth,  though  still  in  a  disjointed 
manner. 

Joseph  Antonini,  a  man  about  thirty  years  of 
age,  was  born,  according  to  his  own  account,  at 


THE    ANTONINI    FAMILY.  47 

Messina,  where  his  parents  carried  on  the  trade  of 
cloth- weavers.  He  stated  himself  to  be  a  barber 
by  trade.  He  related  that  in  his  eleventh  or 
twelfth  year  he  sailed  to  Naples  to  be  present  at 
the  feast  of  the  Holy  Grotto,  and  that  during  this 
voyage  he  was  unfortunately  taken  by  an  Algerine 
corsair,  which  was  again  captured  in  the  roads  of 
Alexandria  by  a  French  ship  of  war.  He  thus 
obtained  his  freedom,  and  was  landed  in  Greece, 
The  first  portion  of  his  life  was  as  romantic  as  the 
rest  was  strange,  dark,  and  varied.  At  one  time 
he  was  a  dmmmer  in  the  Corsican  battalion  under 
the  French,  then  a  laquais  de  place,  then  a  sutler, 
and  lastly  a  French  postilion  d'armee.  He  had 
been  twice  in  prison  at  Berlin  :  once  on  suspicion 
of  theft,  by  command  of  the  French  authorities, 
who  transfen-ed  him  to  Mayence  ;  and  a  second 
time,  together  with  his  wife,  by  order  of  the  Berlin 
police,  for  having  in  their  possession  various  articles 
of  which  they  could  give  no  satisfactory  account. 
They  were,  however,  released  after  eight  days' 
confinement :  and  within  a  few  weeks  they  com- 
mitted this  cruel  murder  on  the  unfortunate 
Blankenfeld.  The  following  circumstance,  how- 
ever, joined  with  the  history  of  his  checkered  life 
and  the  character  he  bore  before  the  mvu'der  of 
Blankenfeld,  shows  that  in  all  probability  this  was 
not  the  first  crime  Antonini  had  committed. 
Whenever  Antonini  and  his  wdfe  quarrelled,  the 
latter  always  called  him  a  thief  and  an  incendiary, 
and  the  passionate  Sicilian  bore  it  in  patient  silence. 
He  told  his  companions  in  jail  that  he  had  once 
stolen  three  hundred  louisd'or  and  some  valuable 
rings,  and  had  not  only  broken  out  of  prison  at 
Erfurt,  but  had  also  effected  the  escape  of  his 
fellow-prisoners.  His  conduct  on  examination, 
and  during  his  imprisonment  at  Augsburg,  showed 
boundless  cunning  and  malice.     To  relate  how  by 


48  REMARKABLE    CRIMINAL    TRIALS. 

cunning,  force,  and  bribery  he  endeavored  to  effect 
his  escape, — how  he  contrived  to  steal  out  of  his 
cell  in  order  to  ascertain  the  state  of  the  proceedings 
against  him, — how  he  plotted  with  his  fellow- 
prisoners  to  escape, — how  he  wrote  to  his  wife, 
urging  her  to  persist  in  a  denial  of  her  guilt, — and 
how  he  at  length  attempted  to  destroy  himself, — ■ 
all  this  would  be  beyond  the  scope  of  the  present 
work. 

Carl  Marschall  and  Theresa  Antonini,  the  former 
not  quite  fifteen,  the  latter  about  twenty-six,  were 
the  children  of  a  certain  John  Christian  Marschall, 
a  very  poor  but  honest  workman  in  a  manufactory 
at  Berlin.     Carl,  according  to  the  unanimous  testi- 
mony of  his  parents,  schoolmasters,  and  acquaint- 
ance, was  a  good-humored  and  remarkably  docile 
boy,  always  anxious  to  please  and  to  do  what  he 
was  bid.     On  the  other  hand,  Theresa  was  describ- 
ed by  her  own  parents  as  a  wild,  obstinate,  malig- 
nant, and  dissolute  girl.     Advice  and  punishment 
alike  failed  to  bend  her  stubborn  will  or  to  mend 
her  morals.    She  showed  neither  love  nor  honor  to 
her  parents,  nor  obedience  or  respect  to  those  she 
served.     At  Berlin  she  became    acquauited  A\ith 
Antonini,  then  a  postilion  d'armee  in  the  French 
service,    and   married    him   at    Kustrin,  in    1806. 
Their  life  is  involved  in  mystery  from  that  time  till 
1809,  when  they  visited  Theresa's  parents  and  were 
aiTested  by  the  Berlin  police  for  having  in  their 
possession  suspicious  property.     From  Berlin  An- 
tonini wished  to  return  home  to  Messina  with  his 
wife,  and  persuaded  Carl  to  accompany  them  and 
to  take  care  of  his  horse  during  the  journey.      The 
parents  refused  their  permission  ;  but  the  boy,  thus 
placed  between  obedience  to  his  father  and  mother 
and  the  more  attractive  scheme  of  the  Italian,  natu- 
rally chose  the    latter,    and  was  taken  fi-om   his 
parents  against  their  will  and  almost  by  force.   It  is 


THE    ANTONINI    FAMILY.  49 

worthy  of  notice  that  the  old  father,  when  informed 
of  the  charge  against  his  children,  wrote  a  touch- 
ing- letter  to  the  mas^istrates  of  Aufjsbure:,  becfginflr 
the  life  of  his  poor  misguided  boy,  and  of  the  boy 
alone  ;  even  the  father's  heart  could  find  nothing  to 
say  in  favor  of  his  daughtei'. 

Dorothea  Blankenfeld,  born  at  Friedland,  of 
parents  in  the  middle  class  of  life,  was  a  beautiful 
girl,  scarce  four-and-twenty,  of  spotless  reputation, 
and  a  kind  and  gentle  disposition.  She  left  Danzig 
in  November,  1809,  on  her  way  to  Vienna  to  join 
her  lover,  a  French  commissaire  ordonnateur,  to 
whom  she  was  about  to  be  married.  The  secre- 
tary to  the  French  commissaire,  Mons.  Gentil,  to 
whom  she  was  recommended  at  Dresden,  had  taken 
a  room  for  her  at  the  Hotel  de  Baviere,  and  there 
she  waited  for  a  convenient  opportunity  to  continue 
her  journey.  This  soon  presented  itself,  but — for 
her  destruction. 

Two  persons,  giving  their  names  as  Antoine 
(Antonini)  and  Schulz,  and  stating  themselves  to 
be  French  postilions  d'armee,  appeared  before  the 
above-named  secretary,  provided  with  the  proper 
recommendation  from  the  commandant  at  Dresden, 
and  demanded  a  passport  for  the  army.  Mons. 
Gentil  immediately  acquainted  Dorothea  Blanken- 
feld with  this  cheap  and  safe  opportunity  for  con- 
tinuing her  journey,  and  offered  to  insert  her  name 
in  the  feuille  de  route.  She  gladly  accepted  the 
offer,  and  after  staying  three  or  four  days  at 
Dresden,  she  started  in  a  carriage  with  these 
people. 

The  feuille  de  route  named  Sieur  Antoine,  Sieur 
Schulz,  and  Dame  Blankenfeld.  Meanwhile  Carl, 
who  had  first  assumed  the  name  of  Schulz,  changed 
characters  with  his  sister,  who  was  not  mentioned 
in  the  passport,  and  she  now  got  into  the  carriage 
ilressed  in  men's  clothes,  under  the  name  of  Schulz ; 
4  E 


5d  REMARKABLE    CRIMINAL'   TRIALS. 

while  Carl  acted  as  a  servant  to  the  party,  in  which 
capacity  he  contrived  to  get  through  everywhere 
with  the  rest. 

Dorothea  Blankenfeld  was  well  provided  with 
money  and  property.  Her  trunk  was  full  of  good 
clothes  and  hne  linen,  and  she  had  2000  thalers 
sewed  in  her  stays.  The  Antoninis  did  not  know 
this  at  first,  but  Blankenfeld's  fashionable  dress, 
and  the  rank  of  her  acquaintances  at  Dresden,  led 
them  to  suspect  enough  to  be  a  strong  temptation 
to  villainy. 

Antonini  and  his  wife  were  very  ill  provided 
with  money  for  their  journey.  They  wanted  to 
reach  Messina,  and  Antonini  had  but  a  few  thalers 
in  his  pocket.  It  is  impossible  to  avoid  suspect- 
ing that  in  undertaking  the  journey  with  such  ut- 
terly insufficient  resources,  they  must  have  relied 
on  obtaining  money  by  dishonest  means  on  the 
road.  One  cannot  believe  that  Antonini,  who  bad 
not  nearly  enough  for  himself  and  his  wife,  would 
have  burdened  himself  with  the  additional  expense 
of  young  Carl,  merely  for  the  sake  of  giving  the 
boy  pleasure,  or  for  the  use  he  might  be  of  as  a 
groom.  Was  it  not  far  more  likely  that  he  took 
the  boy  with  the  intention  of  making  him  a  tool 
and  a  scape-goat  for  his  crimes  1  The  feigned 
name  of  Schulz  which  was  given  to  Carl,  There- 
sa's disguise  and  subsequent  change  of  parts  with 
her  brother,  make  this  extremely  probable.  This 
masquerading  and  changing  of  names  and  persons 
was  excellently  contrived  to  help  them  through 
difficulties  and  to  mislead  the  police.  Moreover, 
the  thought  of  murdering  Blankenfeld  seems  to 
have  struck  the  Antoninis  so  soon,  and  to  have 
been  so  quickly  resolved  into  a  settled  plan,  that 
one  can  hardly  resist  the  inference  that  the  idea  of 
procuring  money  for  their  journey  by  some  crime 
had  been  all  along  firmly  fixed  in  their  minds,  and 


THE    ANTONINI    FAMILY.  51 

only  waited  for  an  opportunity  to  be  cairied  into 
execution. 

They  had  left  Dresden  but  a  few  posts  behind 
them,  when  Antonini  acquainted  his  wife  with  his 
intention  of  murdering  Blankenfeld  in  order  to  ob- 
tain possession  of  her  property.  Theresa,  far  from 
raising  any  objections,  approved  highly  of  the  plan. 
They  immediately  took  young  Carl  into  their  con- 
fidence, telling  him  in  a  few  words  that  "  Dorothea 
Blankenfeld  must  and  should  be  murdered." 

The  docile  boy  had  nothing  to  say  against  it, 
and  was  ready  to  do  their  bidding  in  all  things. 
Thus  the  main  point  was  settled  at  once,  and  no- 
thing remained  but  to  detennine  the  how,  when, 
and  where. 

On  so  long  a  journey  some  favorable  opportunity 
could  not  fail  to  present  itself,  and  to  that  they  re- 
solved to  trust.  From  this  time  foi-vvard  these 
three  people  were  incessantly  occupied  in  seeking 
opportunities  and  devising  means  of  murder  and 
concealment  of  their  crime.  Each  strove  to  sur- 
pass the  others  in  zeal,  activity,  and  ingenuity. 
The  whole  journey  was  one  continued  attempt  to 
destroy  the  innocent  and  unsuspecting  Blanken- 
feld. Each  succeeding  failure  incited  them  to 
fresh  attempts.  Their  night  quarters  were  always 
selected  with  a  view  to  the  execution  of  their 
project ;  and  every  night,  while  the  ill-starred  girl 
slept  unconscious  of  her  impending  fate,  death 
threatened  her  in  one  fonn  or  another.  Noth- 
ing but  accident  diverted  the  murderers  from  their 
plan,  until  it  was  executed  at  Maitingen. 

At  Hof,  Antonini  devised  a  plan  for  stifling 
Blankenfeld  with  smoke  while  she  slept.  But  his 
wife  raised  some  objections  to  it.  She  thought  the 
idea  a  good  one,  but  too  uncertain.  This  plan, 
therefore,  was  not  even  attempted. 

The  next  sleeping-place  between  Hof  and  Bair- 


53  REMARKABLE   CRIMINAI,    TRIALS. 

euth,  probably  Berneck,  appeared  peculiarly  well 
suited  for  the  execution  of  their  scheme.  The 
village  itself  lies  in  a  hollow  at  the  entrance  of  the 
Fichtelgebirge  ;  the  inn  was  lonely,  out  of  the  way, 
and  stood  just  at  the  foot  of  a  mountain  covered 
with  wood.  Thus  the  deed  might  have  been  com- 
mitted in  security,  and  the  dead  body  buried  dur- 
intj  the  nifjht  on  the  mountain.  But  Theresa 
Antonini  had  appeared  at  Berneck  in  women's 
clotlies,  and  not  as  a  postilion,  so  that  the  people 
of  the  inn  had  seen  two  women  arrive  ;  and  the 
Antoninis  feared  that  if  only  one  left  the  inn  on  the 
following  moniing  it  might  excite  suspicion.  This 
excellent  opportunity  was  thus  lost. 

On  the  following  night,  at  Baireuth,  matters  be- 
came still  more  serious.  Antonini  returned  to  his 
original  scheme  of  stifling  Blankenfeld  with  smoke, 
and  talked  of  making  holes  in  the  stove  of  her 
room,  and  then  heating  it  with  damp  straw.*  But 
Theresa  repeated  her  former  objection,  that  the 
result  was  uncertain  ;  Blankenfeld  might  awake, 
and  open  her  window  to  get  rid  of  the  smoke.  It 
was  therefore  finally  resolved  to  kill  her  by  blows. 
Carl  was  ordered  to  provide  himself  with  a  good 
club,  and  to  have  plenty  of  water  ready  to  wash 
away  the  blood.  But  Blankenfeld  was  again  pro- 
tected by  some  chance  which  prevented  the  mur- 
der. 

The  Antoninis  had  thus  lost  three  days.  Expe- 
rience had  taught  them  that  the  execution  of  their 
design  was  not  so  easy  as  they  had  at  first  imag- 
ined. They  saw  difficulties  and  dangers  before 
them  to  which  they  did  not  choose  to  expose 
themselves  for  a  trifling  gain.  They  accordingly 
determined,  before  proceeding  with  their  perilous 
undertaking,  to  convince  themselves  that  their  risk 

*  The  German  stoves  are  supplied  with  fuel    outside    the 
room. 


THE    ANTONINI    FAMILY.  53 

and  trouble  would  be  sufficiently  rewarded.  A 
little  village  between  Baireuth  and  Niirnberg — 
most  likely  Leopoldstein — was  selected  for  this 
purpose.  Blankenfeld  here  ordered  some  negus, 
into  which  Antonini  contrived  to  pour  opium. 
When  she  was  in  bed  and  fast  asleep,  the  keys 
were  taken  from  under  her  pillow,  and  her  trunks 
opened  and  examined  by  Antonini  and  his  wife. 
They  found  in  them  no  money,  but  plenty  of  fine 
linen,  good  men's  and  women's  clothes,  and  a  few 
jewels.  "  At  all  events,"  said  Antonini,  "  it  is 
worth  while  to  kill  her."  Hereupon  they  re- 
placed every  thing  with  the  utmost  care,  locked 
the  trunks,  and  put  back  the  keys  under  her  pillow. 
This  was  sufficient  for  that  night. 

The  following  day  found  them  at  Niirnberg, 
again  debating  how  they  might  kill  Blankenfeld. 
The  many  streams  of  water  which  run  through  the 
city  afforded  favorable  opportunities  for  getting  rid 
of  the  body  ;  but  a  sentinel,  who  stood  opposite  the 
inn,  was  an  insurmountable  obstacle.  Carl,  who 
endeavored  to  deserve  the  trust  reposed  in  him, 
not  only  by  obedience,  but  occasionally  by  advice 
and  suggestion,  proposed  to  mix  pounded  glass 
in  Blankenfeld's  soup,  and  thus  to  do  the  deed 
quietly.  But  Antonini  rejected  the  scheme  as 
inefficient ;  he  had  often  swallowed  broken  glass 
himself  in  sport,  Avith  no  ill  effect.  Blankenfeld 
thus  escaped  once  more. 

From  Niirnberg  they  went  to  the  small  manu- 
facturing town  of  Roth,  which  they  reached  to- 
wards nightfall.  The  active,  watchful  Theresa 
discovered  a  mattock,  with  three  ii'on  prongs,  in 
the  loft,  and  showed  it  to  her  husband  and  Carl 
with  the  words,  "  That  would  give  a  deadly  blow." 
Carl,  who  was  the  one  selected  to  do  the  deed, 
secretly  conveyed  this  instrument  into  the  bed- 
room, and  hid  it  behind  the   stove.     His  sister, 

e2 


Si  REMAUKABLE    CRIMINAL    TRIALS. 

meanwhile,  instructed  him  how  to  use  it.  An- 
other sleeping-draught  was  administered  to  Blan- 
kenfeld,  and  nothing  more  was  Avanting  but  to  find 
a  place  of  concealment  for  the  dead  body.  Carl 
and  Antonini  went  out  separately  to  reconnoitre : 
the  former  discovered  a  hole  in  a  field,  which 
might  do ;  the  latter  chose  a  pool  of  water  in  the 
neighborhood.  But  all  was  again  in  vain.  Acci- 
dent had  brought  a  number  of  earners  to  the  inn, 
whose  eyes  and  ears  might  have  been  awkward 
witnesses  :  the  murder  was,  therefore,  again  de- 
ferred. 

They  encountered  similar  impediments  on  the 
two  followings  nights,  which  they  passed  at  Weis- 
senberg  and  Donauworth,  on  the  road  between 
Roth  and  Maitingen. 

Time  now  pressed,  for  Blankenfeld  was  to 
leave  them  at  Augsburg,  and  they  were  to  pass 
only  one  more  night  on  the  road  before  reaching 
it.  Now,  then,  or  never,  the  plan  must  be  can-ied, 
into  execution. 

During  the  last  post  before  Maitingen,  Antonini 
exercised  all  his  ingenuity  to  asceitain  from  Blan- 
kenfeld whether  she  had  money  or  valuables  con- 
cealed elsewhere  than  in  her  trunk.  He  turned 
the  conversation  on  the  Tyrolese  insurgents,  and 
the  dangers  which  she  might  encounter.  He  said 
that  the  Tyrolese  had  already  penetrated  into 
Swabia  and  Bavaria,  where  they  committed  all 
sorts  of  cruelties  and  murders  for  the  sake  of  the 
most  trifling  booty.  By  these  exaggerated  state- 
ments, he  excited  the  imagination  of  the  unsus- 
pecting girl  to  such  a  degi-ee,  that  at  length,  losing 
all  prudence  in  her  terror,  she  put  her  hand  to  her 
breast  and  said,  "Ah  !  I  will  give  the  Tyi-olese  all 
this  most  willingly,  if  they  will  only  spare  my 
life !"  Had  any  scruples  still  lurked  in  the  mhids 
of  the  Sicilian  and  his  wile,  this  discovery  would 


THE    ANTONINI    FAMILY.  55 

have  dissipated,  tliem.  The  prospect  of  a  rich 
booty  determined  them  to  run  all  hazards,  and 
they  arrived  at  Maitingen  firmly  resolved  that  their 
intended  victim  should  die  that  night. 

Antonini  and  his  wife  had  calculated  that  if  so 
young  a  lad  as  Carl  committed  the  murder  alone, 
he  would  relieve  them  of  the  greater  jiart  of  the 
guilt,  without  incun-ing  capital  punishment  him- 
self. They  hoped  to  secure  themselves  by  throw- 
ing the  whole  blame  upon  him.  They  had  ac- 
cordingly drawn  him  into  the  plot  from  the  very 
betrinning,  and  the  execution  of  the  murder  was 
now  entrusted  to  him  at  Maitmgen,  as  it  had  been 
before.  At  this  last  place  they  did  everything  in 
their  power  to  inflame  his  young  blood,  and  to  in- 
spire  him  with  courage  and  determination.  The 
boy,  equally  docile  for  good  or  for  evil,  blindly 
followed  Antonini's  orders,  and  regarded  the  mur- 
der of  an  innocent  girl  as  a  commonplace  event. 
No  feelings  of  compassion,  no  pangs  of  conscience, 
seem  to  have  touched  him  in  favor  of  one  who  had 
treated  him  with  unifonn  kindness  during  the  jour- 
ney ;  nor  had  he  any  fear  of  detection  or  punish- 
ment. He  only  hesitated  from  fear  that  his 
strength  was  not  equal  to  the  undertaking  ;  but 
his  sister  promised  him  all  her  husband's  clothes 
as  a  reward  for  the  deed,  and  Antonini  said  he 
would  assist  him,  if  necessary,  as  soon  as  the  first 
blow  had  been  struck. 

Carl  had  discovei'ed  in  the  post-house  a  large 
roller  weighing  about  four  pounds,  which  he 
thought  might  serve  the  purpose,  and  had  con- 
cealed it  in  Antonini's  bed-room.  He  was  then 
sent  out  to  dig  a  hole  in  a  dunghill,  in  which  to  con- 
ceal the  body  ;  but  in  this  he  did  not  succeed.  An- 
tonini secretly  bought  some  candles,  so  as  to  have 
a  light  all  night,  and  some  brandy.  After  supper 
he  pursuaded  her  to  drink  some  of  the  brandy, 


50.  REMARKABLK    CUIMINAL    TRIALS. 

with  which  he  had  mixed  laudanum ;  and  at  about 
eight  o'clock  she  went  halt"  stupified  to  bed  in  hex* 
own  room,  leaving  the  door  open  between  herself 
and  the  Antoninis.  Warm  water  was  then  pro- 
cured, under  the  pretence  of  a  foot-bath,  to  wash 
away  the  blood,  and  the  outer  door  was  locked  and 
bolted. 

About  midnight  Carl  stole  into  Blankenfeld's 
room  to  see  how  she  lay.  She  slept  heavily,  but 
her  position  was  by  no  means  favorable  for  their 
purpose,  as  her  face  was  turned  towards  the  wall. 

While  the  murderers  Avere  waiting  for  her  to 
move  into  a  moi-e  convenient  posture,  it  struck 
Antonini  that  it  would  be  better  to  kill  the  sleep- 
ing woman  by  less  violent  means  than  blows  on 
the  head,  and  he  proposed  to  pour  melted  lead 
into  her  ears,  or,  as  Carl  suggested,  into  her  eyes. 
They  broke  a  pewter  spoon  into  small  pieces, 
which  they  melted  in  an  iron  one  over  the  candle. 
But  a  drop  which  fell  upon  the  sheet  and  merely 
Bcorched  it,  proved  to  the  murderers  that  melted 
pewter  cooled  too  soon  for  their  pur])ose.  This 
plan  was  therefore  abandoned,  and  they  deter- 
mined to  abide  by  their  original  intention. 

At  about  four  Carl  again  stole  into  the  room, 
and  found  Blankenfeld  lying  on  her  back  asleep, 
with  her  head  towards  him.  "  Now,"  said  Anto- 
nini, "  is  the  proper  moment,"  and  went  up  to  the 
bed.  Carl  followed  him  witli  the  heavy  roller,  and 
when  urged  to  strike  the  blow,  he  raised  the  mur- 
derous instrument,  but  hesitated,  trembled,  and 
drew  back  in  alarm.  Antonini  whispered  to  him 
some  words  of  reproach,  seized  his  hand  which 
clasped  the  weapon,  gave  it  a  proper  direction  over 
their  victim's  head,  and  the  first  blow  fell  upon  the 
forehead  of  Blankenfeld,  who  exclaimed,  "  Jesus  ! 
my  head  !"  and  raised  herself  in  bed.  At  this 
moment  Antonini  seized  her  by  the  shoulders,  and 


THE    ANTONINI    FAMILY.  67 

Theresa  by  the  feet ;  the  unhappy  girl  now  began 
to  cry,  and  offered  her  murderers  everything  she 
possessed,  if  tliey  would  but  spare  her  young  life. 
Pity,  fear,  and  horror  seized  upon  Carl,  who  hast- 
ily flung  the  weapon  upon  the  floor,  and  ran  to  the 
door  to  escape ;  but  Antonini's  wife  rushed  after 
him,  dragged  him  back  into  the  room,  and,  placing 
the  roller  in  his  hand,  ordered  him  to  complete  his 
task.  He  again  stepped  up  to  the  bed,  and  aimed 
a  second  blow  at  Blankenfeld's  head,  which  struck 
Antonini's  forehead  at  the  same  time,  and  Carl 
again  threw  down  the  roller  and  ran  away,  while 
tlie  pain  of  the  blow  forced  Antonini  to  let  go 
Blankenfeld,  who  collected  all  her  strength,  jump- 
ed out  of  bed,  and  rushed  towards  the  door  of  the 
outer  room.  But  Antonini  fiercely  pursued  her, 
and  stnick  blow  after  blow  on  her  head  till  she 
sank  upon  the  floor,  where  he  still  continued  to 
strike  her.  As  she  lay  on  the  ground  with  the 
death-rattle  in  her  throat,  Antonini  tore  oft'  her 
clothes  and  the  stays  which  contained  her  money. 
He  then  lifted  the  dying  woman  on  his  shoulders, 
intending  to  cany  her  out  into  the  yard  and  bury 
her  in  the  dungheap.  But  the  weight  was  too 
much  for  him,  and  Theresa  dissuaded  him.  They 
therefore  took  her  back  into  her  own  room.  But 
the  wretched  woman  still  breathed  and  again  began 
to  gi'oan.  "  The  carrion  is  coming  to  life  again," 
exclaimed  Theresa.  Antonini  then  stood  upon 
Blankenfeld's  body  and  trampled  on  it  with  both 
feet  until  she  was  dead.  The  cor|3se  was  then  by 
Theresa's  advice  thrust  into  a  sack  and  rolled  up 
in  a  coverlet.  In  order  to  be  perfectly  secure  An- 
tonini took  the  further  precaution  of  tying  a  cord 
tightly  round  her  neck,  while  Theresa  was  busily 
employed  in  washing  away  as  much  as  she  could 
of  the  bloody  stains.  She  then  prepared  for  the 
journey  by  taking   off'  her  postilion's  dress    and 


53  REMAEKABLE    CRIMINAL    TRIALS. 

putting  on  the  clothes  which  Blankenfeld  had  worn 
on  the  previous  day. 

This  is  the  connected  narrative  of  the  transac- 
tion, as  repeatedly  and  circumstantially  confessed 
by  Carl  Marschall. 

Theresa  Antonini  acknowledged  the  truth  of 
Carl's  statement  on  most  points;  but,  when  con- 
fronted with  her  brother,  she  so  stoutly  denied 
having  held  Blankenfeld's  feet,  as  to  make  Carl 
hesitate  and  conclude  himself  mistaken.  But  on 
his  fourteenth  examination  he  returned  to  his  for- 
mer charge,  and  confidently  asserted  that  his  sister 
held  Blankenfeld's  feet,  at  all  events,  while  he 
struck  the  second  blow.  On  a  second  confronta- 
tion, Theresa  persisted  in  her  denial ;  and  when 
Carl  rejjeated  his  statement  she  grew  violent,  at- 
tempted to  strike  him,  swore  she  would  be  re- 
venged on  him,  and  cursed  him  and  her  parents. 
We  can  only  account  for  Theresa's  denial  of  this 
one  circumstance,  on  the  supposition  that  she  en- 
tertained the  vulgar  notion  that  the  other  charges 
aeaiiist  her,  the  truth  of  which  she  had  confessed, 
would  not  be  punished  with  death,  provided  she 
could  prove  that  she  had  not  laid  hands  upon  the 
murdered  woman. 

Antonini  himself,  in  all  his  examinations  and 
confrontations  with  Carl  and  Theresa,  never  made 
a  clear  and  connected  confession. 

In  his  first  twelve  examinations  he  threw  the 
whole  blame  on  Carl,  and  asserted  that  he  himself 
had  had  no  share  in  or  even  knowledge  of  the  murder. 

In  his  thirteenth  audience,  which  he  demanded, 
he  unintentionally  confessed  something  by  relating 
the  following  tale:  "  That  he  had  been  awakened 
in  the  night  by  his  wife,  who  told  him  there  was  a 
noise  in  the  next  room,  and  that  she  thought  some 
(me  was  attempting  suicide.  He  jumjied  out  of 
bed,  and  on  entering  Blankenfeld's  room  receiv- 


THE    ANTONINI    FAMILY.  5& 

cd  a  blow  on  the  head.  While  in  the  act  of  par- 
rying a  second,  the  club  Avith  which  he  had  been 
struck  fell  into  his  hand.  He  seized  it  and  gave  a 
violent  blow,  he  knew  not  to  whom,  for  the  room 
was  pitchy  dark,  and  he  was  half  stunned.  He 
then  struck  towards  the  other  side  of  the  room,  but 
encountered  nothing.  He  shortly  afterwards  dis- 
covered that  Blankenfeld  had  been  murdered  by 
Carl." 

In  his  fourteenth  examination,  which  he  also  de- 
manded, he  gave  a  second  version  totally  different 
from  the  first.  He  said  that  at  about  five  in  the  morn- 
ing a  chaise  arrived  at  the  post-house  :  thinking  it 
was  theirs,  he  awakened  Carl,  and  told  him  to  call 
Blankenfeld.  Soon  after  he  heard  angry  words, 
and  then  blows.  He  jumped  out  of  bed  and  went 
into  her  room,  where  he  found  her  fighting  with 
Carl.  He  tried  to  separate  them,  but  received  a 
kick  from  Blankenfeld  which  sent  him  reeling 
against  the  bed.  He  called  out,  'Carl,  help  me!' 
and  the  lad  then  redoubled  his  blows.  Anger  then 
took  possession  of  me,"  said  Antonini,  "  and  I 
wrested  the  club  out  of  Carl's  hands  and  struck 
Blankenfeld  three  or  four  blows,  whereupon  she 
fell  dead  on  the  floor."  It  was  not  till  afterwards 
that  he  discovered — for  desire  of  gain  was  not  the 
motive  of  his  crime — that  Blankenfeld  had  money 
concealed  about  her  person,  which  however  he  ap- 
propriated to  himself.  He  confirmed  this  confes- 
sion in  his  fifteenth  examination  ;  adding,  that  he 
had  no  intention  of  killing  Blankenfeld  ;  that  he 
had  struck  about  him  wildly,  and  might  have  hit 
her  on  the  body  as  well  as  the  head.  This  he  im- 
proved into  a  statement  that  his  agitation  had  pre- 
vented him  from  seeing  whether  he  struck  Carl  or 
Blankenfeld. 

In  his  nineteenth  examination  he  came  somewhat 
nearer  the  truth.     He  stated  that  "  During  the 


00  UKMAKKABLE    CRIMINAL    TRIALS. 

journey  they  liatl  constantly  quarrelled  with  BUin- 
kenfeld.  As  he  had  spent  his  own  money,  and  had 
fi-etjuently  paid  for  her,  Carl  suggested  to  him  that 
*  As  Blankenfeld  had  a  good  deal  of  money  in  her 
possession,  why  not  kill  her  on  the  road  1  No  one 
would  observe  it,  as  Theresa  might  pass  for  her.' 
But  he  ( Antonini)  and  his  wife  had  refused  to  agree 
to  this,  ^vhenever  it  was  proposed.  At  Maitingen, 
Carl  came  to  him  during  the  night  with  the  club 
in  his  hand,  and  awoke  him,  saying,  *  that  he  was 
determined  to  kill  Blankenfeld,  come  what  might.' 
He  (Antonini)  represented  to  him  that  this  was 
not  to  be  done  in  a  place  where  it  would  be  sure 
to  be  discovered,  and  to  get  them  all  three  into 
mischief  Hereupon  he  went  to  sleep,  but  was 
awakened  by  the  sound  of  blows,  and  on  running 
into  Blankenfeld's  room  he  caught  hold  of  some 
one,  who  turned  out  to  be  BlaTikenfeld,  and  found 
his  hands  covered  with  her  blood.  Carl  still  con- 
tinued to  strike  her,  but  he  (Antonini)  exclaimed, 
'My  God!  my  God!  Carl!  and,  let  go  Blanken- 
feld.' He  then  wrested  the  weapon  out  of  Carl's 
hands,  and  struck  Blankenfeld  three  blows  more, 
which  felled  her  to  the  gi'ound,  but  did  not  inten- 
tionally strike  her  on  the  head.  He  must,  howev- 
er, confess  that  during  the  journey  he  had  thought 
of  killing  her,  in  order  to  possess  himself  of  her 
money  ;  but  his  wife  had  always  dissuaded  him, 
and  that  he  certainly  should  not  have  killed  her, 
had  not  Carl  struck  the  first  blow.  He  added, 
that  on  his  entrance  into  Blankenfeld's  room,  he 
had  stumbled;  and,  half  stunned  by  that,  and  by 
a  knock  he  received  on  the  head  when  he  quitted 
his  hold  of  Blankenfeld,  he  only  discovered,  after 
giving  the  third  blow,  that  it  was  Blankenfeld  whom 
he  had  struck.  It  was  not  until  after  she  was  dead 
that  he  knew  anything  of  the  money  concealed 
about  her  person." 


THK    ANTONINI    FAMILY.  61 

The  twentieth  examination  elicited  from  him  the 
foUowinsT  circumstance :  —  That  at  Maitinwn,  im- 
mediately  before  the  deed,  Cai'l  represented  to  him 
their  wretched  condition,  and  again  urged  him  to 
kill  Blankenfeld,  and  take  her  money.  When  he 
objected  from  fear  of  discovery,  Carl  proposed  to 
him  to  pour  melted  pewter  into  Blankenfeld's  ears. 
He  agreed;  but  on  attempting  to  hold  the  spoon 
over  the  candle,  his  hand  shook  so  violently  that 
the  spoon  fell  upon  the  ground,  and  he  told  Carl 
that  he  never  could  do  such  a  deed.  He  then  re- 
peated much  the  same  version  of  the  murder  as 
before. 

Neither  the  subsequent  examinations  nor  repeat- 
ed confrontation  with  Carl,  produced  a  clearer  con- 
fession. It  was  only  on  being  brought  face  to  face 
with  his  wife,  who  coaxed  him  to  confess  the  truth, 
that  he  conceded  some  few  points :  but  he  never 
made  a  complete  and  repentant  confession. 

Joseph  Antonini  and  his  wife  Maria  Theresa 
were  sentenced  by  the  court  at  Niirnberg  to  death 
by  the  sword.  Carl  Franz  Ludwig  Marschall,  in 
consideration  of  his  youth,  was  condemned  to  ten 
years'  imprisonment  with  hard  labor. 

Antonini  escaped  his  well-deserved  punishment 
by  dying  in  prison  ;  but  his  Avife  mounted  the  scaf- 
fold, and  died  as  she  had  lived,  bold,  hardened,  and 
unrepentant. 


RIEMBAUER, 

THE  TARTUFFE  OF  REAL  LIFE. 


Francis  Salesius  Riembauer  was  bom  on  the 
27th  January,  1770,  in  the  market-town  of  Lang- 
quaid  (circuit  of  Pfaffenber^).  He  was  the  son 
of  a  poor  day-laborer,  and  began  hfe  as  a  shep- 
herd-boy :  he  early  displayed  considerable  talents 
and  a  strong  desire  for  knowledge,  and  soon  con- 
ceived the  ambition  of  studying  for  the  church. 
In  his  thirteenth  year  he  fell  upon  his  knees  before 
the  priest  of  his  parish,  whom  he  implored  to  give 
him  the  instruction  required  to  prepare  him  for 
the  gymnasium  of  the  town.  The  boy  made  such 
rapid  progress  that  within  the  year  he  was  received 
into  that  school.  After  remaining  there  a  short 
time  he  was  admitted  into  the  gymnasium  of  Ratis- 
bon.  Here  his  good  behavior,  diligence,  and  rapid 
progress,  gained  him  the  character  of  an  admirable 
student  who  would  one  day  do  honor  to  the  church 
and  to  himself.  His  knowledge  of  ecclesiastical 
law  and  history  was  considerable.  He  chiefly 
devoted  himself  to  the  study  of  dialectics  and  cas- 
uistry, in  which  he  selected  as  his  guide  the  works 
of  P.  Benedict  Stattler.  In  1795  he  took  holy 
orders  at  Ratisbon,  and  for  many  years  served  dif- 
ferent parish  churches  in  succession.  At  Christ- 
mas, 1805,  ho  was  translated  to  Pirkwang,  where 
he  had  charge  of  the  Filial  Church  at  Ober-Lau- 
terbach.  He  remained  there  for  two  years  ;  and 
in  1807  passed  his  examination,  as  candidate  for 


THE  TAETUFFE    OF    REAL    LIFE.  63 

a  cure,  with  great  honor  at  Munich,  and  was  ap- 
pointed parish-priest  at  Priel  on  the  18tli  March, 
1808,  from  wlience,  two  years  later,  he  was  trans- 
lated to  Nandelstadt. 

From  the  commencement  of  his  ecclesiastical 
career,  he  was  so  remarkable  for  his  talents  and 
virtues  as  to  be  held  up  as  a  model  to  other  priests. 
His  stately  figure  and  handsome  face,  his  persua- 
sive eloquence  and  insinuating  manners,  gained 
him  general  good-will.  He  performed  his  clerical 
duties  with  punctuality,  dignity,  and  grace,  and 
his  outward  demeanor  was  decorum  itself.  His 
leisure  hours — at  least  until  his  removal  to  Pirk- 
wang,  where  the  purchase  of  a  small  property  in- 
volved him  in  agi'icultural  pursuits — were  passed 
in  reading  and  study.  And  when  those  priests  to 
whom  he  was  attached  as  chaplain,  expressed  their 
admiration  of  his  zeal  for  learning,  he  replied  that 
this  was  the  pi'oper  calling  of  the  clergy,  who 
ought  not  to  concern  themselves  with  worldly 
affairs.  His  preaching  was  distinguished  for  fire 
and  unction,  and  out  of  church,  as  well  as  in  it,  he 
declaimed  against  the  coiTuptions  of  the  world  : 
his  soft  words  and  gentle  manners  seemed  those 
of  a  saint  living  in  communion  with  God,  and  in 
charity  with  his  neighbor.  He  always  walked 
out  of  church  smiling,  with  his  head  on  one  side, 
his  eyes  half  closed  and  fixed  upon  the  ground, 
and  his  hands  folded.  Even  those  who  felt  a  per- 
sonal dislike  to  him,  or  distrusted  his  character, 
praised  his  merits  as  a  priest,  and  his  eloquence 
in  the  pulpit.  "  He  was,"  said  one  Niedermeyer, 
"  really  a  most  charming  preacher,  and  would  have 
converted  us  all  to  righteousness,  had  he  stayed 
longer  at  Hof  kirchen  :  he  cast  his  eyes  towards 
heaven,  and  preached  most  powerful  doctrine." 
Besides  this,  the  common  people  believed — and 
he  encouraged  the  idea — that  he  stood  in  close  and 


64  REMARKABLE    CRIMINAL    TRIALS. 

constant  communication  with  the  invisible  world- 
The  (lead  came  from  purgatory  to  visit  him  in  his 
chamber,  and  entreat  liim  to  say  a  mass  lor  the  re- 
pose of  their  souls,  and  when  this  was  done  they  Were 
released.  Even  before  the  mass  was  over,  he  saw 
the  beatified  spirit  Hy  towards  heaven  in  the  form 
of  a  white  dove.  When  his  spiritual  duties  called 
him  abi'oad  by  night,  the  distressed  *ouls  of  the 
departed  flitted  before  him  in  the  shape  of  small 
flames,  probably  to  obtain  his  benediction,  and  fol- 
lowed the  direction  of  his  hallowed  finger  as  he 
pointed  to  the  right  or  to  the  left.  For  some  time 
he  was  honored  almost  as  a  saint  by  the  people, 
and  many  would  eagerly  rush  to  seat  themselves 
upon  the  chair  he  had  just  left,  in  the  hopes  of 
feeling  something  of  his  holy  influence. 

Some  of  his  clerical  brethren,  indeed,  beheld  in 
him  a  hypocrite  and  a  pharisee.  It  was  whispered 
at  Hirnheim  that  the  parish  priest  had  received  a 
letter  fi-om  his  brother  priest  at  Hofkirchen,  where 
Riembauer  had  acted  as  chaplain,  warning  him 
against  the  new-comer  as  a  wolf  in  sheep's  cloth- 
ing ;  and  telling  him  that  he  had  obtained  his  re- 
moval on  this  account.  Nor  did  all  his  penitents 
implicitly  believe  in  the  piety  and  virtue  of  this 
holy  man  :  some  of  thom  ]>rivately  doubted  whe- 
ther a  man  who  flattered  all  alike,  and  looked  no 
one  in  the  face,  were  not  a  very  great  hypocrite. 
There  were  many  good,  prudent  fathers  of  fami- 
lies, who,  while  they  felt  highly  honored  in  receiv- 
ing the  pious  young  ecclesiastic  in  their  houses, 
nevertheless  took  es])ocial  precautions  for  the  se- 
curity of  their  daughters,  to  whom  Riembauer 
invariably  paid  particular  attention,  whenever  he 
passed  the  night  under  their  roofs. 

It  was  not  until  many  years  later,  when  other  far 
more  irapoitant  discoveries  had  been  made,  that  the 
following  circumstances  in  the  life  of  this  holy  man 


THE    TARTUFFE    OF    REAL    LIFE.  65 

became  public.  While  he  was  chaplain  at  Hof- 
kirchen,  he  seduced  the  piiest's  cookmaitl,  Maria 
H — ,  and  afterwards  gave  her  the  means  of  retiring 
to  Landshut,  where,  in  ISOl,  she  was  delivered  of 
a  son,  who  died  soon  after.  Dui'ing  his  residence 
at  Hirnheim  as  chaplain,  he  lived  with  Anna 
Eichstadter,  the  kitchen-maid  at  the  manse,  and  in 
1803  he  had  a  daughter  by  her,  which  was  born 
and  christened  at  Ratisbon,  both  parents  giving 
false  names.  While  he  was  chaplain  at  Pfarrkofen, 
in  1803,  he  seduced  a  sempstress,  Walburga  R — , 
who  bore  him  a  daughter,  named  Theresa,  who 
also  was  alive  at  the  time  of  the  trial.  It  was  also 
loimored  that  the  cookmaid  of  the  parish  priest  of 
Pfan-kofen  was  in  the  same  state  by  him.  He  was 
then  chaplain  at  Pondorfin  1804,  where,  according 
to  his  own  account,  he  received  great  offence  from 
the  wickedness  of  the  world,  and  the  coiTuption  of 
the  young  clergy  ;  for  some  of  the  other  chaplains 
paid  particular  attention  to  the  youthful  cousin  of 
the  parish  priest,  to  which  she  did  not  appear  in- 
sensible. He  was  hereby  compelled  to  procure  his 
removal  to  some  other  curacy.  He  was  translated 
to  Pirkwang  ;  and  at  Lauterbach,  a  small  village 
within  his  cure,  he  selected  as  his  mistress  a 
farmer's  daughter,  named  Magdalena  Frauen- 
knetch,  whose  history  we  shall  have  to  relate  here- 
after. x\fter  the  death  of  this  mistress,  he  lived 
with  his  last  cookmaid,  Anna  Weninger,  by  whom 
he  had  no  less  than  three  children. 

In  order  to  quiet  the  conscience  and  secure  the 
fidelity  of  those  concubines  with  whom  he  intended 
to  live  for  any  length  of  time,  Riembauer  used  to 
perform  the  marriage  service  over  them,  uniting  in 
his  own  person  the  characters  of  priest  and  bride- 
groom. Catherine  Frauenknecht  asserted  that, 
hidden  behind  Riembauer's  bed,  she  witnessed  the 
strange  espousals  of  her  sister  Magdalena ;  that 
5  F  2 


66  REMARKABLE    CRIMINAL    TRIALS. 

Riembauer  repeated  all  the  usual  ])rayers  and 
exhortations,  and  placed  a  gold  wedding-ring  on 
her  sister's  linger.  Anna  Weninger  said  that  the 
same  thing  took  place  at  her  union  with  him,  but 
was  not  sure  whether  the  priestly  bridcgi'oom  j)er- 
formcd  the  ceremony  clad  in  his  stole  and  Avith 
burning  candles,  or  not.  He  himself  denied  having 
thus  profaned  his  sacred  functions,  but  confessed 
that  he  liad  instructed  his  mistresses  in  the  duties 
of  the  married  state,  and  then  given  and  received  a 
formal  promise.  He  was  very  earnest  in  par- 
suading  his  female  ])enitents  that  they  might  safely 
permit  themselves  certain  sins  with  the  saints  of 
the  Lord.  Many  other  charges  were  pi'oved 
against  him  which  we  will  pass  over  in  silence,  the 
more  so  as  we  want  nothing  further  to  convince  us 
that  the  whole  of  his  ecclesiastical  career  was  a 
perfect  illustration  of  the  well-known  and  popular 
maxim — 

Le  nial  n'est  jamais  que  dans  I'eclat  qu'on  fait. 
Le  scandale  du  mondc  est  ce  qui  fait  I'off'ense, 
Et  ce  n'est  pas  pechcr  quo  pechcr  en  silence.* 

Without  having  read  Moliere,  Riembauer  tho- 
roughly understood  not  only  how  to  sin  in  secret, 
and  to  appear  before  the  woi'ld  as  a  saint,  but  also 
how  to  keep  an  amicable  account  with  heaven  for 
sins  already  committed,  or  to  be  committed  here- 
after. 

Le  Ciel  defend,  do  vrai,  certains  contentements  ; 
Mais  on  trouvc  avec  lui  des  accommodements. 
Selon  divers  besoins,  11  est  une  science 
D'ctendre  les  liens  de  notre  conscience, 
Et  de  rectitier  le  inal  de  Paction 
Avec  la  purete  de  notre  intention. f 

These  errors  and  frailties  were  not  his  sins,  but 
the  sins  of  celibacy ;  and  casuistry  furnished  him 
with  arguments  to  prove  that  in  procreating  illegi- 

*  Le  Tartuffe.  t  Ibid. 


THE    TARTUFFE    OP    REAL    LIFE.  67 

timate  children  he  was  instrumental  in  extending 
the  kingdom  of  God;  that,  therefore,  this  conduct, 
far  from  being  reprehensible,  was  praiseworthy, 
and  agreeable  in  the  sight  of  heaven.  "  I  consid- 
ered,"  these  are  his  words,  "  1st,  That  reason  tells 
us  that  it  cannot  be  unlawflil  to  beget  a  child  ;  for 
to  call  into  existence  an  immortal  and  rational  being 
is  a  good  deed.  It  is  thus  that  a  man  becomes  in 
a  peculiar  manner  the  image  of  God,  -with  whom 
he  co-operates  in  the  creation  of  a  human  being, 
as  is  said  by  Saint  Clement  of  Alexandria;  2nd, 
That  it  cannot  be  contrary  to  God's  ordinances,  for 
thus  it  is  that  the  number  of  the  elect  is  increased  ; 
3rd,  Neither  is  it  against  the  decrees  of  the  church, 
if  the  child  be  educated  in  the  Christian  faith  ;  4th, 
Nor  against  the  interests  of  the  state,  provided  this 
member  of  it  receive  moral  and  civil  instruction, 
so  as  to  become  a  good  citizen  and  faithful  subject, 
and  pro-vided  the  mother  of  the  child  be  not  for- 
saken. I  frequently  considered  all  these  arguments, 
which  were  supported  by  the  history  of  the  church,* 
and  by  my  own  experience.  My  conscience  was 
thus  made  easy  mider  these  en'ors  of  celibacy." 

Riembauer,  impelled  by  feelings  of  duty  and 
kindness,  or  by  prudential  motives,  did  everything 
in  his  power  to  provide  for  his  children  and  to  keep 
their  mothers  quiet  and  contented,  so  that  they 
might  do  nothing  to  injure  his  reputation. 

The  child  of  Anna  Eichstiidter  was  educated  at 
his  expense  at  Ratisbon,  and  he  kept  up  a  constant 
and  friendly  intercourse  with  the  mother,  who  serv- 
ed in  various  places  as  housemaid  or  waiting-maid. 
He  coiTesponded  with  her,  and  provided  her  with 
linen,  money,  &c. ;  occasionally  visited  her,  and 

*  It  is  probable  that  the  learned  Riembauer  refers  to  those  por- 
tions of  ecclesiastical  history  which  treat  of  the  lives  of  Sergius 
III.,  John  XII.,  Innocent  II.  and  VII.,  John  XXIII.,  Alexander 
VI.,  Julius  II.,  &c. 


68  REMARKABLE    CRIMINAL    TRIALS. 

held  out  hopes  of  taking  her  to  Hve  with  him  per- 
manently as  l)is  cook,  whenever  he  should  have 
a  parsonage  of  his  own.  Anna  Eichstiidter,  the 
daughter  of  a  cai-penter  at  Fiiith,  was  a  well-shap- 
ed, tall,  strong,  broad-shouldered  woman,  remark- 
able, among  other  things  (which  is  important  in  the 
sequel),  for  two  rows  of  most  beautiful  teeth.  The 
intimate  and  fi-iendly  connexion  subsisting  between 
her  and  lliembaucr  received  a  considerable  shock 
about  a  year  after  his  removal  as  chaplain  to  Pirk- 
wang :  this  shock  eventually  caused  her  cruel 
death. 

Riembauer,  as  we  have  already  said,  had  the 
charge  of  the  church  at  Ober  Lauterbach,  where 
the  Franenknecht  family  lived  at  a  farm  called  the 
Thomashof.  The  Frauenknechts,  by  their  industry 
and  frugality,  their  benevolent  and  Christian  spirit, 
and  their  pious  conduct,  had  gained  the  respect 
and  love  of  all  their  neighbors.  When  Riembauer 
began  his  ministry  there  at  Christmas,  1805,  the 
family  consisted  of  the  father,  who  died  two  years 
after,  his  wife  and  two  daughters — the  eldest  of 
whom,  Magdalena,  was  born  in  1788  ;  the  second, 
Catherine,  in  1796.  The  former  was  described  by 
all  who  knew  her,  both  high  and  low,  as  a  most 
pious,  gentle,  amiable  girl ;  and,  imtil  Riembauer 
came  near  her,  of  spotless  reputation.  The  latter, 
who  was  then  but  a  child,  was  generally  said  to  be  a 
frank  and  honest  girl,  with  an  understanding  be- 
yond her  years. 

Riembauer's  cupidity  was  soon  excited  by  this 
family,  and  he  determined  to  possess  not  only  the 
daughter,  Magdalena,  but  likewise  the  property  of 
these  simple-hearted  people.  He  obtained  their 
entire  confidence,  not  only  by  his  air  of  sanctity 
and  the  superiority  of  his  education  and  profession, 
but  also  by  laying  aside  in  his  intercourse  with  them 
the  outward  honors  of  his  station,  and  becoming,  in 


THE    TARTUFFE    OF    REAL    LIFE.  G9 

pure,  Cliristlan  humility,  their  equal.  Whenever 
his  duties  or  his  pleasure  took  him  to  Ober  Lauter- 
bach,  he  assisted  the  Frauenknecht  family  in  their 
husbandry,  doing  for  them,  to  the  astonishment  of 
the  neighbors,  the  work  of  a  common  day-laborer. 
He  who  could  find  in  his  theological  code  a  trium- 
phant apology  for  every  action,  frequently  quoted 
the  deci'ees  of  the  Council  of  Carthag^e,  the  testi- 
mony  of  Saint  Epiphanius,  and  the  example  of 
many  bishops  and  priests  of  ancient  times,  who 
united  the  offices  of  preachers  and  common  la- 
borers, to  prove  that  an  ecclesiastic  forfeited  none 
of  the  dignity  of  his  sacred  calling  by  following  the 
plough  or  carting  dung.  Without  having  any 
money,  he  bought  the  farm  called  the  Thomashof 
from  the  Frauenknecht  family  in  December,  1806, 
for  4000  florins,  fraudulently  inserting  into  the  con- 
tract a  recital  that  2000  florins  had  already  been 
paid  :  and  after  the  death  of  old  Frauenknecht  he 
presented  to  the  Avidow  a  false  bill  of  expenses, 
amounting  to  2000  more,  which  she,  in  her  good- 
natured  simplicity,  admitted.  After  thus  gaining 
possession  of  the  Thomashof,  where,  however,  the 
Frauenknecht  family  continued  to  reside,  he  remov- 
ed to  Lauterbach,  and  lived  there,  dividing  his  time 
between  his  professional  duties  and  agricultural  la- 
bor. This  conduct  procured  for  him  the  reputa- 
tion of  a  patriarch  among  some  of  his  neighbors  of 
the  higher  class  ;  but  the  peasants,  whose  good  com- 
mon sense  was  shocked  by  the  impropriety  of  this 
proceeding,  called  him  the  farmer  of  Thomashof. 

Soon  after  the  fraudulent  purchase  of  the  farm, 
the  eldest  daughter,  Magdalena,  found  herself 
about  to  become  a  mother  by  this  reverend  patri- 
arch, and  was  sent  by  him  to  Munich,  nominally 
to  learn  cooking,  but  in  reality  to  conceal  her  preg- 
nancy. There  she  serv^ed  for  six  or  seven  months 
in  the  house   of  the  Registrar  Y ,   and   was 


70  REMARKABLE    CRIMINAL    TRIALS. 

afterwards  delivered  of  a  son  in  June  1807,  while 
living  in  the  same  house  with  lliembauer — at  the 
very  time  when  he  passed  his  examination  for 
priest's  orders  with  great  honor.  The  expenses 
of  Magdalena's  stay  at  Munich — which  was  entirely 
owing  to  Riembaucr — wore  put  down  by  him  at 
500  florins,  and  deducted,  with  other  charges  of  a 
similar  nature,  from  the  sum  owing  to  the  widow 
Frauenknccht  for  the  Thomashof. 

During  KioTiibauer's  stay  at  Munich,  from  about 
the  yth  to  the  loth  June,  Anna  Eichstadter,  who 
was  then  in  sex'vice  at  Ratisbon,  came  to  Lauter- 
bach  to  extract  from  her  lover  the  money  for  her 
child,  which  Ricmbauer's  embarrassments  had 
prevented  him  from  paying  as  heretofore ;  and 
possibly  also  to  take  him  to  task  about  his  connex- 
ion with  Magdahma,  and  to  compel  him  to  fulfill 
his  promise  of  taking  her  as  his  cook.  When  she 
learnt  from  Catherine  Frauenknecht  that  Riem- 
bauer  was  absent,  she  demanded  the  key  of  hi* 
room,  saying  that  she  was  his  cousin.  Here  she 
acted  as  if  she  were  mistress  of  the  house,  ransack- 
ed all  the  chests  and  drawers  in  her  search  for 
money.  On  finding  none,  or  at  any  rate  not 
enough,  she  wrote  him  a  threatening  letter,  which 
she  left;  and  after  sleeping  at  Thomashof  she  re- 
turned to  Ratisbon.  After  Riembauer's  return 
to  Munich  he  received  a  second  and  still  more 
angry  letter  from  her,  threatening  him  with  legal 
proceedings  if  he  did  not  fulfill  his  en<TaQ:ements 
towards  her. 

Shortly  after,  Riembauer  went  to  visit  Anna 
Eichstadter  at  Ratisbon,  and  satisfied  her  for  the 
present.  On  his  departui'e  she  accompanied  him 
with  her  child  as  far  as  Kumpfmiihl,  and  urged 
him  to  break  oft'  his  connexion  with  Magdalena, 
and  not  to  forsake  herself.  She  sat  on  the  bank 
by  tlio  ro;ul-'?ido  with  her  child,  and  implored  him 


THE    TARTUFFE  OF    REAL    LIFE.  71 

with  uplifted  hands  and  tears  in  her  eyes,  to  keep 
the  promises  he  had  made  her.  But  the  pious 
priest  raised  his  stick  with  a  threatening  gesture, 
struck  it  angrily  upon  the  ground,  and — went  his 
way. 

Anna  Eichstiidter  had  lived  hitherto  with  a 
horse-dealer  at  Ratisbon,  but  in  October,  1807,  she 
quitted  his  service  for  that  of  the  parish  priest  at 

P .     On  the  1st  of  November  she  went  to  the 

house  of  her  new  master,  but  requested  permission 
to  visit  her  relations  before  entering  upon  her  du- 
ties as  cook.  As  a  pledge  of  her  promise  of  ser- 
vice she  left  with  her  master  her  silver  necklace, 
and  several  other  articles  of  value.  As  it  was  rain- 
ing, he  lent  her  a  green  cotton  umbrella,  on  the 
handle  of  which  were  engraved  his  initials,  J.  O. 
Several  days  passed,  and  she  did  not  return.  Her 
master,  who  had  reason  to  suspect  that  she  had 
gone  to  Riembauer,  wrote  to  him,  requesting  him 
to  tell  Anna  Eichstiidter,  if  she  did  not  like  to  en- 
ter his  service,  at  any  rate  to  return  his  umbrella. 
Riembauer  answered  that  he  was  unable  to  give 
any  information  about  her,  as  he  had  neither  seen 
her  nor  the  umbrella.  Anna  Eichstadter  never 
appeared  again  from  the  1st  of  November,  the  day 
she  left  her  master's  house ;  she  neither  returned 
to  Ratisbon,  nor  went  to  her  native  town,  Fiixth. 
Her  relations  and  friends  could  not  discover  her 
place  of  abode,  or  whether  she  were  alive  or  dead. 
It  was  supposed  either  that  she  was  drowned,  or 
had  fallen  into  the  hands  of  a  notorious  robber, 
who  was  executed  in  the  following  year ;  and,  at 
length,  nobody  thought  any  more  about  her. 

Some  months  after  the  disappearance  of  Anna 
Eichstadter  in  1808,  Riembauer  was  appointed  to 
the  living  of  Priel.  Hereupon  he  sold  at  a  profit 
the  ill-gotten  farm  of  Thomashof,  and  the  widow 
Frauenknecht  and  her  two  daughters  accompanied 


72  REMARKABLE   CRIMINAL    TRIALS. 

him  to  his  new  home,  where  INIagdalena  sensed 
him  as  cook.  But  in  tlie  foUowing  year  both  she 
and  lier  mother  were  stuzed  witli  a  sudden  illness, 
and  died,  the  daughter  on  the  IGtli,  the  mother  on 
the  21st  of  June,  1809. 

The  younger  daughter,  Catherine,  had  quitted 
the  parsonage  some  time  before  her  mother's  and 
sister's  death,  partly  on  account  of  quan'els  with 
her  sister,  partly  from  confinned  dislike  to  Riem- 
bauer.  She  first  went  into  ser\ace  at  his  bro- 
ther's house,  after  which  she  lived  with  different 
masters.  Wherever  she  went,  though  generally 
even-tempered  and  cheerful,  she  was  subject  to  fits 
of  terror  and  despondency.  Solitude  filled  her 
with  horror ;  she  was  afraid  to  sleep  alone  :  she 
seemed  to  be  haunted  by  fearful  visions,  and  her 
terrors  increased  with  her  years.  Some  dreadlul 
secret  appeared  to  weigh  upon  her  mind.  Occasion- 
ally she  let  fall  expressions  about  some  woman, 
whose  image  pursued  her  wherever  she  went. 
She  once  told  a  certain  Catherine  Schmid,  with 
whom  she  slept  at  Ratisbon,  of  a  hojrid  murder 
committed  by  the  priest  Riembauer,     Afterwards, 

when  she  was  in  service  at  D ,  she  told  the 

same  story  to  her  mistress,  who  advised  her  to 
open  her  heart  to  a  confessor.  She  accordingly 
applied  to  a  priest,  to  whom  she  related  that 
Riembauer,  by  whom  herfamilyhadbeen  defrauded 
of  2000  florins,  and  she  herself  deprived  of  her 
home,  had  cut  the  throat  of  a  woman  who  visited 
him  at  Lauterbach  in  November,  .1807;  that  he 
had  also  destroyed  her  mother  and  sister  by  jioison, 
on  account  of  their  knowledge  of  the  murder ;  and, 
lastly,  that  he  had  endeavored  to  get  her  into  his 
power,  doubtless  with  the  intention  of  putting  out 
of  the  world  the  only  living  witness  of  his  crime. 
The  confessor  dissuaded  her  from  laying  any  infor- 
mation against  Riembauer  in  a  court  of  justice,  and 


THE    TARTUFFE    OF    REAL    LIFE.  73 

advised  her  to  leave  him,  if  he  wei'e  guilty,  to  the 
judgment  of  God.  He  afterwards  assured  her 
that  he  had  secretly  consulted  several  other  eccle- 
siastics on  this  case,  and  that  this  advice  had  been 
approved  by  them  all.    Another  priest.  Co-operator 

S ,  to  whom  Catherine  subsequently  told  the 

same  tale,  also  recommended  silence,  but  took  the 
opportunity  of  endeavoring  to  serve  both  her  and 
Riembauer,  by  writing  to  the  latter  an  anonymous 
Latin  letter,  threatening  him  with  the  revelation  of 
some  terrible  seci'et  if  he  did  not  satisfy  the  person 
knowing  it  by  a  full  restitution  of  her  property.* 
The  co-operator  had  previously  asked  advice  upon 
this  casum  conscientla,  of  the  parish  j^riest,  who 
was  of  opinion  that  the  affair  should  certainly  be 
laid  before  the  proper  tribunal,  but  approved  the 
generosity  of  the  motives  which  had  dictated  the 
threatening  letter. 

At  length,  in  1813,  Catherine  Frauenknechtlaid 
a  formal  accusation  against  Riembauer,  first  at 
Ober  Lauterbach,  and  afterwards  at  a  criminal 
court  at  Landshut,  specially  held  for  this  case. 
The  evidence  she  gave  was  nearly  as  follows,  and 
she  repeated  it  upon  oath  in  the  following  year, 
when  she  became  of  age. 

"  During  the  summer  of  1807,  while  my  sister 
Magdalena  and  the  Reverend  Mr.  Riembauer  were 
at  Munich — the  former  to  learn  cooking,  the  latter 
to  pass  his  examination — a  woman  of  about  twenty- 
two,  tall,  handsome,  with  an  oval  face,  and  light 
brown  hair,  in  a  peasant's  dress,  with  a  gold  cap 
on  her  head,  came  to  our  house  ;  my  mother  was 
at  work  in  the  field.     She  told  me  that  she  was  a 

*  Theletterwhich  Riembauer  afterwards  repeated  from  memory 
was  as  follows  : — "  Habeo  casum  mihi  propositum,  quem  tantum- 
modo  tu  solvere  potes.  Vir  quidam,  quem  tu  bene  noscis,  debet 
alicui  persouae  3000  florenorum  circiter.  Si  conscientia  tua  vig- 
ilat,  solve  hoc  debitum.  Nisi  intra  quatuor  hebdomedas  respon- 
deas,  horrenda  patefaciet  ista  persona.     Hannibal  ante  portas  .'" 

G 


74  KEMARKABLE    CRIMINAL    TRIALS. 

cousin  of  Riembauer's,  and  on  hearing  that  he  was 
at  Munich  for  his  examination,  she  requested,  me  to 
give  her  the  key  of  his  room,  which  I  refused.  But 
when  my  mother  returned  home  she  obtained  it 
from  her,  went  into  Riembauer's  room,  and  search- 
ed it  thoroughly,  just  as  though  she  were  in  her 
own  house.  She  remained  with  us  that  night,  and 
said  that  she  had  found  no  money,  and  had  there- 
fore left  a  letter  for  the  priest,  sealed  up  in  a  cover. 
In  about  a  week  Mr.  Riembauer  returned  from 
Munich.  I  told  him  what  had  happened,  and  he 
said,  '  that  she  was  a  cousin  of  his,  to  whom  he 
owed  some  money.' 

"  In  the  November  of  the  same  year,  I  do  not 
know  exactly  on  what  day  (it  was  afterwards  dis- 
covered to  have  been  All  Souls'  Day,  the  2d  of 
November),  the  same  cousin  came  again  to 
Thomashof,  just  as  Riembauer  had  carted  home 
turnips  from  the  field.  My  sister  was  at  home  with 
him,  but  my  mother  and  I  came  in  from  work  some- 
what later.  As  we  drew  near  the  house  we  heard  a 
voice  up-stairs  in  the  priest's  room — whether  cry- 
ing or  laughing  we  could  not  at  first  distinguish — 
but  we  soon  perceived  that  it  was  wailing.  The 
moment  we  reached  the  threshold  of  our  house, 
my  sister  ran  towards  us,  all  in  tears,  and  hastily 
told  us,  '  that  a  strange  woman  who  called  herself 
his  cousin,  had  come  to  see  the  reverend  gentle- 
man ;  that  Mr.  Riembauer  had  taken  her  up  into 
liis  own  room,  and  had  there  told  her  that  he  was 
going  to  fetch  some  beer :  that  under  this  pretext 
he  had  come  down-stairs,  fetched  his  razor,  and 
gone  up-stairs  again  with  it  in  his  hand :  that  he 
had  then  approached  the  woman,  who  was  sitting 
on  a  chair  (as  INIagdalcna,  who  had  crept  up-stairs 
after  him,  saw  through  the  key-hole),  and  catching 
hold  of  her  neck,  as  if  to  kiss  her,  had  pressed  her 
head  down  towards  the  floor  and  rut  her  throat.' 


THE    TARTUFFE    OF    REAL    LIFE.  75 

"  While  my  sister  was  telling  us  this  on  the  door- 
step, we  still  heard  the  wailing  noise,  and  Mr. 
Riembauer's  voice  saying,  '  Nanny  !  make  a  clean 
breast,  for  you  must  die.'  AVe  then  heard  a 
moaning  voice  saying,  '  Franzel !  don't  do  it !  only 
spare  my  life,  and  I  will  never  again  come  to  you 
for  money.'* 

"  My  mother  and  sister  instantly  went  into  the 
room  below,  but  from  curiosity  I  ran  up-stairs,  and 
distinctly  saw,  through  the  key-hole,  Mr.  Riem- 
bauer  sitting  or  kneeling  upon  the  body  of  the 
woman,  who  lay  upon  the  floor  kicking  and  strug- 
gling. He  held  her  head  and  throat  with  both  hands 
while  the  blood  gushed  from  her. 

"  I  then  went  down-stairs,  and  told  what  I  had 
seen  to  my  weeping  mother  and  sister,  who  still 
hesitated  whether  they  should  not  call  for  help. 
When  I  went  out  again  into  the  passage  I  met 
Mr.  Riembauer  coming  down -stairs,  dressed  in  his 
usual  brown  jacket  and  a  white  apron  ;  his  hands 
and  the  apron  were  covered  with  blood,  and  in  his 
right  hand  he  held  the  bloody  razor,  which  he  laid 
upon  the  small  chest  by  the  door;  he  then  went 
into  the  room  where  my  mother  and  sister  were. 
I  listened  at  the  door,  and  heard  him  tell  them 
'  that  this  woman  had  had  a  child  by  him  ;  and  was 
always  plagviing  him  for  money  ;  that  she  had  now 
asked  him  for  between  100  and  200  florins,  and  had 
threatened  him  with  an  action  if  he  refused ;  and 
that  as  he  could  not  raise  the  money,  he  had  cut 
her  throat  to  get  rid  of  her.' 

"  I  afterwards  slipt  into  INIr.  Riembauer's  room, 

*  An  attempt  was  afterwards  made  to  impugn  the  credit  of 
Catherine's  evidence  on  this  point.  It  was  said  that  if  Riem- 
bauer had  already  cut  the  woman's  throat  before  Magdalena  had 
come  down  stairs,  it  was  impossible  she  could  speak  loud  enough 
to  be  heard  on  the  door-step.  But  Von  Walther  gives  it  as  his 
opinion  that  even  when  the  windpipe  is  cut,  it  is  possible  for  a 
person  to  speak  with  the  head  beut  forward. 


70  UKMARICABLE    CRIMINAL    TRIALS. 

and  there  I  saw  the  same  person  who  had  been  at 
our  house  the  previous  summer,  stretched  on  the 
ihKjr,  iu  a  pool  ot"  bhxxl,  withher  throat  cut  through, 
her  hair  dishevelled,  and  her  clothes  torn.  I 
screamed  and  let  fall  the  candle  from  fright. 

"  When  I  came  down-stairs  again,  1  saw  the 
reverend  gentleman  washing  the  blood  from  his 
hands,  and  told  him  that  I  had  seen  the  person  wlio 
had  come  in  the  summer  lying  dead  in  his  room. 
He  then  coaxed  me,  told  me  I  was  mistaken,  and 
promised  me  quantities  of  fine  clothes  if  I  would 
not  mention  what  I  had  seen  or  heard  to  any  one. 
My  mother  still  continued  to  weep,  and  to  declare 
that  she  must  inform  against  him.  But  Mr.  Riem- 
bauer  thre^v  himself  at  her  feet,  and  entreated  her 
not  to  betray  him.  My  mother  still  insisted,  add- 
in"-  that  her  silence  w^ould  be  of  no  avail,  as  the 
neighbors  must  have  seen  the  stranger  and  heard 
the  noise.  Mr.  Riembauer  at  last  said  that  nothing 
then  was  left  fur  him  but  to  destroy  himself. 

"  He  then  put  on  his  coat,  fetched  a  rope  out  of 
the  outhouse,  and  ran  with  it  towards  the  wood. 
My  mother  and  sister,  who  followed  him  at  a  dis- 
tance, saw  that  he  was  really  in  earnest,  and 
thinkintr  that  it  would  only  make  matters  worse  if 
Mr.  Riembauer  were  to  hang  himself,  they  ran 
after  him,  and  by  pi'omises  of  secrecy  prevailed 
upon  him  to  relinquish  his  design. 

"  When  he  had  returned  home  with  my  mother 
and  sister,  he  debated  in  my  presence  about  a 
safe  place  where  he  might  bury  the  body,  and 
chose  for  the  purpose  the  little  room  on  the  left 
hand  in  the  newly  built  outhouse.  He  quieted 
my  relations  by  assuring  them  that  he  would  bury 
the  body  himself,  and  that  nothing  would  be  dis- 
covered if  only  I,  then  a  child  of  twelve,  could  be 
prevented  from  talking. 

"At  midnight,  between  tw^elve  and  one.  he  took 


THE    TARTUFFE    OF    REAL    LIFE.  77 

a  lontern  and  a  spade,  and  went  into  the  closet  in 
the  outhouse,  where  he  dug  a  hole.  After  a  time 
I  heard  a  noise  overhead,  opened  our  room-door, 
and  saw  a  light  near  the  cellar-door,  and  Mr. 
Riembauer  dragging  the  body,  which  was  com- 
])letely  dressed,  down-stairs  by  the  shoulders,  so 
that  the  head  huno:  down  backwards.  A  shudder 
came  over  me,  and  I  cannot  tell  how  he  then  con- 
veyed the  body  into  the  outhouse.  But  I  after- 
wards went  thither,  and  looking  in  at  the  open 
door,  my  mother  and  sister  and  I  saw  that  the 
reverend  gentleman  had  already  put  the  mui'dered 
woman  into  the  hole,  and  was  covering  her  over 
with  earth. 

*'  He  washed  away  the  blood  which  stained  the 
ground  froin  the  house  to  the  outhouse  the  same 
night,  and  on  the  following  morning  he  cleansed 
the  house  with  his  own  hands,  first  using  cold, 
then  hot  water. 

"  But  in  his  own  room  the  blood  was  alx'eady 
dry,  and  washing  was  of  no  use ;  I  was  therefore 
sent  to  borrow  a  plane  from  our  nearest  neighbor, 
Michael  the  cai-penter ;  with  this  Mr.  Riembauer 
planed  the  floor  till  the  stains  disappeared,  and 
threw  the  shavings  into  the  grate. 

"  On  the  morning  after  the  murder,  as  I  was 
going  to  school,  I  saw  our  dog  dragging  a  wo- 
man's bloody  shoe  about  the  yard.  I  mentioned 
this  to  Riembauer,  and  he  told  me  to  cany  it  into 
the  room  down-stairs.  1  took  it  up  on  a  stick,  as 
it  made  ray  blood  run  cold,  and  threw  it  on  the 
floor  of  our  room :  I  do  not  know  what  became  of 
it  afterwards. 

"  When  our  neighbors  inquired  what  had  hap- 
pened in  our  house  to  cause  such  disturbance  and 
crying,  we  answered,  as  the  reverend  gentleman 
had  instnicted  us,  that  we  had  wept  about  our 
father's  death  and  the  loss  of  the  2000  florins  which 

g2 


78  REMARKABLE    CRIMINAL    TRIALS. 

Mr,  Riembauer  had  squeezed  out  of  us,  as  all  the 
village  knew. 

"  The  mui-dered  woman  had  brought  with  her  a 

green  umbrella  belonging  to  the  priest  at  P . 

Mr.  Riembauer  kept  it,  and  still  had  it  when  he 
was  parish  priest  of  Priel. 

"  About  fourteen  days  after  the  body  was  buried 
there  was  a  dreadfiil  stench  in  the  outhouse.  The 
women  who  were  threshing  complained  of  this  to 
Mr.  Riembauer,  who  told  them  he  could  not  con- 
ceive the  reason.  Soon  after,  one  of  the  women, 
who  had  gone  into  the  little  side-room,  stumbled 
against  something  in  the  dark,  and  called  for  a 
light,  that  she  might  see  what  it  was,  as  she  was 
sure  that  it  could  not  be  a  stone.  Mr.  Riembauer 
prevented  her,  and  instantly  fetched  a  padlock  out 
of  his  own  room,  and  fastened  the  door,  which  un- 
til then  had  always  stood  open.  He  told  us  all 
this  down-stairs,  adding  that  it  was  one  of  Nanny's 
feet  sticking  out  of  the  earth.  That  same  eveninjr 
he  fetched  more  sand,  and  covered  the  gi'ave  over 
with  it." 

Catherine  then  proceeded  to  give  an  account  of 
the  sickness  and  sudden  death  of  her  mother  and 
sister  in  June,  1809,  when  she  was  at  the  vicarage, 
having  been  fetched  from  school  at  Ralisbon  to 
take  charge  of  the  kitchen  during  her  sister's  ill- 
ness. She  confidently  asserted  that  Mr.  Riem- 
bauer had  poisoned  her  mother  and  sister,  and 
added  that  they  had  frequently  quarrelled  with 
him,  and  that  her  sister  had  even  threatened  to 
leave  his  service,  for  which  reason  Riembauer 
lived  in  constant  dread  of  discovery.  That  during 
tlieir  illness  he  did  not  allow  tliem  any  medical  or 
religious  attendance,  and  himself  gave  her  sister 
medicines,  which  he  got  from  a  barber-surgeon, 
and  even  forced  her  to  take  them.  She  herself 
was  sent  to  fetch  some  drugs  from   the  barber, 


THE    TARTUFFE    OF    REAL    LIFE.  79 

which  Ricmbauer  gave  next  morning  to  her  sister, 
who  shortly  after  swooned  and  died.  "  The  body 
of  my  sister,"  said  Catherine,  "was  exceedingly 
swollen  and  covered  with  spots;  blood  ran  from 
her  nose  and  mouth.  The  barber  supposed  her  to 
have  been  with  child ;  the  village  people  said  the 
same,  and  pointed  out  Riembauer  as  the  father. 
All  wondered  that  my  mother  and  sister  should 
both  have  died  so  suddenly." 

Lastly  Catherine  maintained  that  Riembauer  had 
several  times  expressed  an  intention  of  killing  her 
also.  Her  sister  once  warned  her  that  he  had  said 
that  he  would  not  mind  giving  two  or  three  hun- 
dred florins  to  any  one  who  would  put  her  out  of 
the  way :  adding,  "  the  girl  is  gi'owing  taller  and 
more  sensible  every  day,  and  at  last  no  dowry  will 
be  large  enough  to  keep  her  silent."  After  her 
sister's  death  he  begged  her  not  to  leave  him,  and 
promised  to  give  her  eight  thousand  florins  as  her 
mairiage-portion  if  she  would  but  stay.  But  after 
four  weeks  she  left  his  house,  and  because  ho  ap- 
propriated to  himself  all  her  sister's  money,  clothes, 
and  letters,  she  said  to  him  as  she  went  away,  "  Re- 
verend sir,  I  do  not  forget  the  past;"  whereupon 
he  answered,  "  It  will  go  harder  wth  you  tlian 
with  me:  I  have  made  up  my  mind  what  to  say; 
your  mother  and  sister  are  dead,  and  can  tell  no 
tales,  and  I  shall  say  it  was  they  who  murdei-ed 
the  woman."  But  he  did  not  lose  sight  of  her, 
and  several  times  afterwards  attempted  to  get  her 
into  his  service,  or  rather  into  his  power. 

This  accusation,  brought  by  a  girl  of  seventeen 
against  a  clergyman  of  high  consideratioii,  was  so 
sti-ange  in  its  details,  so  improbable  and  extra- 
vagant, that  at  first  it  was  regarded  as  the  inven- 
tion of  a  diseased  imagination.  But  the  narrative 
was  so  consistent,  so  circumstantial  and  so  clear, 
and  the  girl  showed  so  much  sense,  and  was  so 


80  REMARKABLE    CRIMINAL    TRIALS. 

unembaiTassed  and  confident,  that  it  was  impossi- 
blo  to  let  the  matter  rest. 

The  larm-houso  of  Thomashof,  in  which  the 
event  was  said  to  have  taken  place,  and  the  body 
of  Anna  Eichstiidter  to  be  buried,  had  fortunately 
passed  into  other  hands,  and  the  accused  priest 
was  living  at  a  distance.  It  thus  was  possible 
without  exciting  attention  to  make  the  necessary 
investigations  on  the  spot. 

Directions  were  accordingly  given  at  Lauter- 
bach  to  examine  the  Thomashof  The  new  out- 
house described  by  Catherine  was  found,  and 
within  it  on  the  left-hand  a  small  closet.  On  dig- 
ging, they  found,  very  near  the  surface,  one  shoe 
and  a  female  skeleton,  the  skull  of  which  contained 
two  rows  of  beautiful  white  teeth.  On  th-e  floor 
of  the  room  formerly  inhabited  by  Riembauer 
stains  were  found,  which  on  being  wetted  with 
warm  water,  clearly  showed  themselves  to  be 
marks  of  blood  ;  several  of  the  boards  bore  traces 
of  having  been  planed  by  an  unskillful  hand,  evi- 
dently for  the  purpose  of  effacing  similar  spots. 
Tlie  carpenter  Michael  remembered  that  the 
Frauenknecht  family  had  borrowed  a  plane  of  him 
some  six  years  before. 

Upon  this  Ricml>auer  was  apprehended  and 
conveyed  to  Landshut.  He  showed  but  little 
sui-prise,  and  indeed  seemed  fully  prepared  for 
the  occurrence.  At  the  first  examination,  of  the 
27th  October,  1813,  he  did  not  affect  ignorance  of 
the  cause  of  his  apprehension,  but  immediately 
mentioned  Anna  Eichstiidter.  He  said  he  had 
made  accpiaintance  with  her  at  Hirnheim,  but  that 
nothing  improper  had  passed  between  them  :  that 
she  had  had  the  greatest  confidence  in  him,  had 
entrusted  to  his  care  50  florins  of  her  savings,  and 
had  begged  him  to  take  her  as  his  cook,  which  he 
promised  to  do,  on  condition  of  her  future  good 


THE    TARTUFFE    OF    REAL    LIFE.  81 

conduct.  That  since  he  had  left  Hirnlieim  he  had 
heard  nothing  more  of  her,  excepting  at  Pirkwang, 
where  she  had  twice  sent  or  written  to  him  for 
pait  of  the  50  florins.  That  during  the  summer 
of  1807,  while  he  was  at  Munich  for  his  examina- 
tion, she  had  come  to  Lauterbach  to  see  him,  and 
had  told  the  Frauenknecht  family,  to  their  great 
annoyance,  that  he  had  promised  to  take  her  as  his 
cook. 

"It  was,"  said  Riembauer,  "about  the  3d,  4th, 
or  5th  November,  1807  (he  purposely  misstated 
the  day),  that  I  returned  from  celebrating  a  funeral 
at  Pirkwang  to  Thomashof,  the  farm  which  I  had 
lately  bought.  It  was  just  twilight.  I  went  straight 
up  to  my  own  room,  and  found  the  door  open  and 
a  person  lying  upon  the  floor.  I  imagined  it  to 
be  one  of  the  women  belonging  to  the  house,  and 
called  out  '  How  now — what  is  the  matter  ]'  On 
receiving  no  answer,  I  touched  her,  and  found,  to 
my  horror,  that  she  was  dead.  I  ran  down-stairs 
in  utter  dismay,  and  in  the  room  below  I  found 
the  mother  and  her  daughter  Catherine  chnging 
to  each  other  and  trembling  like  aspen-leaves. 
Upon  asking  them  what  had  happened,  they  seized 
my  hands  and  implored  me  amid  tears  and  lamenta- 
tions to  keep  everything  secret.  I  then  learnt  that 
Anna  Eichstadter,  who  had  been  to  see  me  once 
before,  while  I  was  at  Munich,  had  arrived  at 
Thomashof  that  afternoon,  and  had  insisted  upon 
going  up  into  my  room ;  that  both  mother  and 
daughter  had  quarrelled  violently  with  this  woman, 
Avho  had  attempted  to  stab  them,  and  that  Magda- 
lena  had  seized  my  razor  and  cut  her  throat.  The 
dispute  which  led  to  such  teirible  results  had  been 
caused  by  Eichstadter's  assertion  that  she  was 
come  to  be  my  cook,  and  that  the  Frauenknechts 
would  be  forced  to  leave  the  house. 

"  I  afterwards  lighted  a  candle,  and  in  the  per- 
G 


82  REMARKABLE    CRIMINAL    TRIALS. 

son  lying  in  my  room  recognised  Anna  Eiclistiid- 
ter. 

"  I  wished  to  quit  Tliomasliot"  immediately,  and 
told  the  Frauenkuechts  that  I  could  no  longer  stay 
with  them.  But  they  held  me  by  both  hands,  im- 
ploring me  with  tears  and  groans,  by  all  that  was 
must  sacred,  to  stay,  tluit  they  would  give  me  any- 
thing I  might  ask,  and  deduct  as  mucli  as  1  pleased 
from  the  purchase  money  which  I  still  owed  tliem 
for  the  farm.  At  last  1  suti'ered  myself  to  be  per- 
suaded to  stay,  brought  my  bed  down  into  the  pas- 
sage, and  slept  there. 

"  I  went  out  early  the  next  morning,  leaving 
the  dead  body  in  my  room.  When  1  returned  in 
the  evening,  it  was  lying  on  a  litter,  and  the  Frau- 
enkuechts told  me  that  they  wished  to  bury  it  in 
the  left-hand  room  in  the  outhouse.  I  told  them 
that  they  might  do  as  they  pleased,  that  I  could 
not  assist  them. 

"  Between  eight  and  nine  at  night,  tlie  mother 
and  daughter  carried  the  body  on  a  litter  into  the 
little  closet  and  covered  it  with  the  earth,  which 
had  already  been  dug  out. 

"  The  following  morning  I  went  to  the  spot 
myself,  and  found  the  earth  loosely  heaped  over 
the  body.  Upon  calling  their  attention  to  this, 
and  remai'king,  that  should  any  man  or  beast  enter 
the  outhouse,  the  thing  must  be  discovered,  they 
took  some  sand  and  rubbish  and  covered  the  grave 
with  it. 

"I  continued  to  sleep  down-stairs  in  the  passage 
some  few  nights  longer,  and  then  returned  to  my 
own  room  after  it  had  been  cleaned." 

These  Avere  the  chief  points  of  a  statement  by 
which  he  attempted  to  prove  that  he  had,  at  his 
own  peril,  consigned  this  horrible  event  to  the 
keeping  of  his  priestly  conscience,  out  of  compas- 
sion for  the  criminals,  whose  spiritual  director  he 


THE    TARTUFFE    OF    REAL    LIFE.  83 

was,  and  because  tliat  which  was  done  could  not 
be  undone,  and  the  women  deeply  repented  of 
their  crime. 

Unlike  meaner  criminals,  who  usually  deny 
everything,  Riembauer  pursued  the  highest  line 
of  policy,  freely  admitting  all  the  facts  which  were 
already  proved,  but  endeavoring  to  arrange  them 
in  such  an  order  that  the  certainty  of  their  truth 
need  not  bring  with  it  a  conviction  of  his  own 
guilt.  Upon  this  system  Riembauer  repeated  the 
statement  made  against  him,  the  tenor  of  which 
he  could  easily  guess,  almost  word  for  word  as 
Catherine  had  related  it,  with  this  one  important 
difference,  that  he  changed  the  persons,  accusing 
Magdalena  and  her  mother  of  the  crime,  and  as- 
suming for  himself  the  part  of  spectator,  which 
had  belonged  to  Catherine.  That  which  he  really 
did,  he  pretended  only  to  have  seen ;  and  to  have 
concealed,  from  Christian  charity,  that  which  in 
fact  Magdalena  and  her  mother  had  concealed  for 
him. 

This  change  of  pei'sons  at  once  converted  the 
account  of  the  murder  at  Thomashof — the  main 
facts  of  which  were  acknowledged  by  the  accused 
to  be  true — from  a  fearful  romance  into  a  manifest 
absurdity.  Who  could  imagine  such  a  deed  pos- 
sible to  a  gentle  kind-hearted  woman,  who,  as 
Riembauer  said,  had  the  soul  of  an  angel  1  What 
circumstances  could  be  strange  enough,  what  ex- 
citement sufficiently  strong,  suddenly  to  transform 
a  woman  so  sweet-tempered,  and  at  the  same  time 
so  timid  and  nervous,  as  Magdalena  is  represented 
to  have  been,  into  a  bloodthirsty  fury  1  Eich- 
stadter  was  tall,  strong,  broad-shouldered,  and 
powerfully  made;  Magdalena,  on  the  contrary, 
was  small,  thhi,  and  weak  :  how  could  it  have  been 
possible  for  her  to  cut  Eichstadter's  throat  1  In  a 
contest,  such  as  that  described  by  Riembauer,  a 


84  REMARKABLE   CRIMINAL    TRIALS. 

few  wounds  might  have  been  inflicted ;  but  it  is 
impossible  thus  to  cut  tlie  tliruat  of  a  person  hav- 
ini;  the  free  use  of  her  limbs. 

Thus  by  admitting  the  fact  of  the  murder,  Riem- 
bauer  confirmed  the  truth  of  the  accusation  against 
himself,  indirectly,  it  is  true,  but  still  conclusively. 

His  conduct  in  prison  afforded  convincing  proofs 
of  his  guilt.  He  began  by  bribing  his  jailers. 
He  wrote  long  letters  to  a  number  of  persons  of  his 
acquaintance,  directing  them  what  evidence  to  give 
in  his  favor;  especially  to  affirm  that  the  deceased, 
Magdalena  Frauenknecht,  had  confessed  to  them 
that  she  had  murdered  the  woman.*  He  gave 
especial  orders  to  his  mistress,  Anna  Weninger,  to 
get  rid  of  the  green  umbrella  as  speedily  as  possible. 
Some  of  these  letters  reached  their  destination, 
among  others  that  addressed  to  Aima  Weninger, 
who  punctually  executed  liis  commission.  Riera- 
bauer  went  so  far  in  his  system  of  corruption  as  to 
endeavor,  though  without  success,  to  gain  a  sight  of 
the  documents,  or  at  any  rate  to  ascertain  the 
precise  charge  brought  against  him. 

Hereupon  his  jailers  were  changed,  and  himself 
removed  to  another  prison,  whence  he  inferred 
that  his  letters  had  been  intercepted.  He  there- 
fore endeavored  to  weaken  the  presum{)tion  which 
his  conduct  might  have  raised  against  him,  by  in- 
forming the  judge  that  he  had  a  disclosure  to 
make,  namely,  that  distress  had  thrown  him  into  a 
state  of  temporary  madness,  during  which  he  had 
written  without  consciousness  or  design  letters 
which  might  appear  like  the  production  of  a  sane 

*  In  one  letter,  addressed  to  a  priest  of  his  acquaintance,  he 
endeavored  to  induce  him  to  give  such  evidence  : — 1.  In  consider- 
ation of  our  brotherly  love  ;  2.  For  the  sake  of  the  worthy  Nanny 
(his  cookmaid  Weninger) ;  3.  On  account  of  our  friends,  who 
are  grieved  for  me  ;  4.  On  account  of  the  clergy,  who  are  thereby 
cast  into  the  shade  ;  5.  On  account  of  the  faithful,  who  are  of- 
fended. 


TUB    TARTUFFE    OF    REAL    LIFE.  85 

and  guilty  mind.  He  then  endeavored  to  explain 
to  his  judge,  accordn)g  to  some  Jesuitical  theory,  the' 
difference  between  the  human  scnsus  cxternus,  in- 
ternus,  and  intimus  ;  and  that  this  very  bribery,  &c. 
proved  that  he  possessed  the  sensus  cxternus  and 
intcrnns,  but  that  the  sensus  intlmns,  upon  which 
everything  in  fact  depended,  was  totally  wanting  to 
him  when  he  wrote  the  letters  in  question. 

Notwithstanding  the  absurdity  of  his  first  state- 
ment, it  remained  for  four  years  —  during  which 
he  underwent  ninety-nine  examinations,  besides 
countless  confrontations  with  witnesses  —  the 
theme  to  which,  with  few  variations,  he  constantly 
adhered.  He  persisted  in  the  assertion  that  he  was 
not  the  murderer  of  Anna  Eichstadter;  that  the 
day  of  the  murder  was  the  3d,  not  the  2d  of  No- 
vember ;  that  INIagdalena  Frauenknecht  committed 
the  crime  from  jealousy  and  anger,  and  that  he  had 
nothing  to  accuse  himself  of  but  an  error  in  judg- 
ment in  suffering  himself  to  be  led  by  christian 
charity  and  a  mistaken  sense  of  duty  as  a  priest,  to 
conceal  her  hon-id  deed.  This,  he  said,  was  the 
truth,  from  which  he  could  not  depart,  even  though, 
like  Saint  Bartholomew,  he  were  flayed  alive  ;  and 
which,  even  on  the  scaffold,  and  sun'ounded  by  a 
thousand  devils,  he  would  still  proclaim  to  the 
world  with  his  latest  breath. 

During  most  of  the  examinations  he  affected  the 
resieuation  of  a  martyr,  and  usually  answered  the 
judges  with  a  sweet  smile.  If  occasionally  assum- 
in  tr  an  air  of  injured  innocence  and  honor,  he  burst 
forth  in  vehement  words  or  gestures,  he  suddenly 
stopped  short,  and  "  with  bated  breath  and  whisper- 
\v.<y  humbleness"  begged  pardon  for  this  warmth, 
intelligible  in  one  who  saw  the  most  manifest  truths 
always  contradicted,  who  was  like  "  a  defenceless 
sheep  worried  by  savage  dogs."  When  closely 
pressed,  he  sometimes  attempted  to  overawe  the 

H 


80  KliMAKKABLE    CRIMINAJ.    TKlAJ.ti. 

judge  by  the  assumption  of"  a  pulpit  style  ;  at  other 
times  he  burst  into  a  laugh  at  the  "  unheard-of  lies 
which  the  devil  invented  against  him  ;"  and  then  he 
would  strain  his  face  into  an  appearance  of  sorrow 
and  dejection,  and  vainly  sti-ive  to  shed  tears.  All 
the  endeavors  of  the  judge  to  overcome  the  obsti- 
nacy of  the  accused  by  representing  to  him  the 
improbability  and  the  absurdity  of  his  tale,  were 
foiled  by  his  matchless  self-possession  and  his  dia- 
lectic skill.  He  had  a  solution  for  every  difficulty  ; 
an  hypothesis  for  every  conflicting  statement;  there 
was  nothing,  however  impossible,  which  he  did  not 
attempt  by  dint  of  his  psychological  and  meta- 
physical learning  to  demonstrate  into  probability. 
When  it  was  urged  how  incredible  it  was  that 
Magdalena,  whom  he  represented  as  remarkable  for 
kindness  and  gentleness,  should  commit  such  an 
action,  he  launched  out  into  a  disquisition  upon  the 
influence  of  jealousy  and  anger  in  general,  and  upon 
the  excitability  of  the  female  sex  in  })articular, 
under  the  influence  of  which  Magdalena,  hardly 
conscious  of  what  she  was  about,  might  have  done 
the  deed.  If  his  attention  was  called  to  the  phy- 
sical impossibility  of  the  action  as  narrated  by 
him,  he  was  ready  with  the  suggestion  that  Mag- 
dalena's  mother  might  have  come  to  her  assist- 
ance, or,  with  his  hal)itual  smile,  he  bared  his  own 
throat,  and  showed  upon  it  how  easily  the  opera- 
tion might  have  been  performed.  When  it  was 
objected  that  the  weak  and  unpractised  hand  of  a 
woman  could  not,  under  any  circumstances,  inflict 
so  deep  a  wound  with  a  razor,  he  bi'ought  out  of 
his  store  of  metaphysical  learning  the  theory  of  a 
certain  motus  jyrario  2>rimus,  by  which,  when  once 
the  razor  was  set  in  motion,  it  acquired  unusual 
force  in  a  particular  direction. 

He  loft  no  means  imtried  to  cast  suspicion  upon 
Catherine's    character  and  evidence.     The  testi- 


THE    TARTUFFE    OF    REAL    LIFE.  87 

mony  of  others  who  proved  the  falsehood  of  many 
particulars  of  his    statement  was  seldom  able  to 
shake  his  confidence  or  to  induce  him  to  retract 
any  of  his  assertions.     When  confronted  with  wit- 
nesses, he  always  gave  them  to  understand  what 
he  wished  them  to  say,  and  endeavored  to  work 
upon  their  feelings  of  compassion  or  of  reverence. 
Sometimes  he  would  try  to  overawe  them  by  elo- 
quence, and  by  the  dignity  of  his  spiritual  charac- 
ter, or  to  confuse  and  lead  them  into  contradictions 
by  candidly  and  eloquently  reminding  them  how 
easily  man  may  be  deceived  by  the  imperfection  of 
his  nature,  delusion  of  the  senses,  or  want  of  mem- 
ory, as  in  all  honesty  to  mistake  falsehood  for  truth. 
When  these  wiles  had,  as  usual,  failed,  he  accused 
the  witnesses  of  gi'oss  error  or  of  impudent  deceit, 
invoked   all  the  persons  of  the  Godhead  and  all 
the  saints  in  Heaven  to  testify  that  he  had  spoken 
truth ;  or,  in  holy  wrath  at  the  coiTupt  nature  of  man, 
he  called   down  upon   their  heads   the  just  ven- 
geance of  offended  Heaven.     Once,  when  clearly 
convicted  of  a  falsehood  by  the  evidence  of  several 
witnesses,  he  exclaimed  with  flashing  eyes,  "  Quis 
contra  torrentem  ?     If  thirty  thousand  men  stood 
there,  and  said  the  devil  is  white,  1  would  ever 
maintain  him  to  be  black,  and  in  the  same  manner 
I  must  still  affiiTn,"   &c.     Occasionally,  but  very 
seldom,  he  altered  his  course,   and  confessed  the 
truth  of  some  fact,  which,  for  months  and  in  spite 
of  all  proof,  he  had  obstinately  denied ;  but  then 
either  the  action  of  melancholy  on  the  scnsus  inti- 
mus,  or  some  innocent  confusion  of  his  ideas — an 
involuntary    deception    caused   by    the    associatio 
idearvm — had  to  bear  the  blame  of  his  former  as- 
sertions, which  were  instantly  replaced  by  others 
equally  false.     He  was  inexhaustible  in  hypocriti- 
cal figures  of  speech,  by  which  he  endeavored  to 
pei*suade  the  judge  of  his  innocence.     He  assured 


88  REMAKKABLE    CRIMINAL    TRIALS. 

him  "  that  his  heart  was  Hke  tliat  of  a  dove,  with- 
out gall  ;"  "  that  he  wished  him  a  magic  minor  in 
which  he  might  behold  the  purity  of  his  soul." 
That  he  had  hitherto  invariably  shown  himself  to 
be  one  of  the  most  good-natured  of  men ;  how 
therefore  could  any  one  suspect  him  of  so  horrible 
an  action  1  cum  nemo  repente  fiai  pessimus.  "  My 
heart  shudders,"  says  he,  "  at  the  bare  accusation. 
In  order  that  you  may  perceive  how  improbable 
it  is,  I  beg  of  you  to  consider  my  priestly  charac- 
ter. You  know,  1,  that  by  committing  murder  a 
priest  becomes  irregularis  ;  2,  cxcommunicatwneni 
majorem  ipso  facto  illatani  incurrere  ;*  3,  that 
though  David  did  severe  penance  for  the  murder 
of  Uriah,  he  was  no  longer  worthy  to  build  the 
Temple.  How  then  could  it  be  possible  for  me  to 
forget  my  God,  my  future  happiness,  eternal  and 
temporal  punishment,  and,  with  hands  still  reeking 
with  innocent  blood,  to  grasp  God's  image,  admi- 
nister the  sacred  mysteries  of  religion,  and  thus 
cast  myself  headlong  fiom  one  abyss  to  another  r' 
As  Riembauer  could  not  be  moved  by  admoni- 
tion, exhortation,  argument,  or  evidence,  the  judge 

*  Riembauer  is  perfectly  correct  in  his  canon  law ;  but  this 
knowledge  only  made  his  character  appear  still  more  atrocious 
when  he  subsequently  confessed  the  murder.  Since  the  2d  No- 
vember, 1807,  he  had  become  irreg^daris,  i.  e.  incapable  of  admin- 
istering any  sacred  function,  and  still  he  continued  to  do  so  (Van 
Espen, '  Jus  Eccl.  Un.,'  tom.  II.  p.  ii.  tit.  10,  c.  i.  and  vii.  ;  Rieger, 
'  Instit.  Jurisprud.  Ecclesiasticae,'  p.  ii.  ^  125-144).  No  fastmg, 
no  penitence,  can  remove  irregularity  on  account  of  murder ;  and 
he  who,  conscious  of  this  irregularity,  contmues  to  administer  the 
sacraments,  is  guilty  of  deadly  sm  ('Add.  Silvestri  ad  Van  Es- 
pen,'  I.  c.  7).  A  dispensation  from  the  pope  was  alone  able  to 
remove  it,  upon  which  one  learned  in  the  Catholic  canon  law 
(Pyrrhus  Corradus)  remarks  : — "■Pontifex  in  dispensalionibiui  hujus- 
modi  concedendis,  non  parum  difficilon  se  reddit ;  rum  abominabile  sit, 
quod  effundens  sanguinem  humiinujn,  ojferat  sanguinem  Ckristi  el  hos- 
tiam  immaculatam,  vel  ojjicium  Deo  ad  altaris  ministerium  pr(Bf!tet." 
VV'hat  a  priest,  then,  was  Riembauer,  and  what  a  man  !  More- 
over, he  afterwards  owned  that  he  had  never  confessed  his  crime 
to  any  other  priest,  but,  as  he  expressed  it,  referred  the  whole 
matter  to  God  alone. 


TUli    TAUTUFFE    OF    REAL    LIFE.  89 

attempted  to  find  a  way  to  his  conscience  thiough 
his  imagination.  The  tiial  had  now  lasted  two 
whole  years,  when  the  judge  appointed  All  Souls' 
Day  in  1815,  the  eighth  anniversary  of  the  murder, 
for  a  new  examination,  the  eighty-eighth  in  number. 
It  commenced  at  4  p.m.,  and  was  intended  to  con- 
vince him,  by  the  overwhelming  mass  of  evidence 
collected  against  -him,  of  the  inutility  of  further 
denial,  and  to  work  upon  his  feelings  more  power- 
fully than  usual,  by  admonition  and  appeal  to  his 
recollections.  But  he  remained  unmoved  as  ever. 
At  midnight  the  judge,  after  addressing  the  accused 
in  the  most  moving  language,  suddenly  raised  a 
cloth,  under  which  lay  a  skull  upon  a  black  cush- 
ion. "  This,"  said  the  judge,  "  is  the  skull  of  Anna 
Eichstadter,  which  you  may  easily  recognise  by 
the  beautiful  teeth."  Riembauer  started  from  his 
seat,  stared  wildly  at  the  judge,  then  smiled  in  his 
usual  manner,  and  stepped  aside  to  avoid  looking 
straight  into  the  empty  sockets  of  the  eyes,  but 
quickly  recovered  himself,  and  said,  pointing  to  the 
skull,  "  Could  this  skull  speak,  it  would  say, '  Riem- 
bauer was  my  friend,  not  my  murderer!'"  He 
added,  "  I  am  calm  and  can  bi'eathe  freely,  but  I 
am  pained  by  being  exposed  to  such  scenes,  and 
by  the  charge  brought  against  me.  To-moiTOw" 
(for  Riembauer  still  asserted  that  the  murder  took 
place  on  the  3d  November)  "  is  the  anniversary  of 
the  day  on  which,  some  years  ago,  at  my  return 
from  Pirkwang,  I  found  the  whole  body  lying  dead 
in  my  room  as  now  I  find  this  skull.  As  a  citizen 
I  ever  stand  in  need  of  the  king's  mercy,  but  not 
as  a  criminal."  AVhen  the  report  had  been  read 
and  signed,  the  judge  again  led  him  up  to  the  skull, 
which  he  held  before  his  eyes  while  he  exhorted 
him  to  confess.  Riembauer  betrayed  some  emo- 
tion, but  with  his  usual  hypocritical  smile  thus  ad- 
dressed the  skull  in  a  solemn  tone,  "  Oh  !  if  thou 

h2 


90  ULMAKKAULi:    CRIMINAL    TRIALS. 

couklst  lout  speak,  thou  wouldst  confirm  the  truth 
of  my  asseitions  !" 

After  a  long  series  of  examinations,  during  which 
the  documents  had  swelled  to  a  bulk  of  forty- 
two  folio  volumes,  on  the  13th  October,  1817, 
the  prisoner  requested  an  interview,  in  which  he 
stated  to  the  judge  "  that  he  had  reflected  more 
deeply  on  the  subject,  and  had  besought  the  Holy 
Ghost  to  assist  his  memory,  whereupon  it  had  be- 
come clear  to  him  that  he  had  made  a  mistake  in 
his  former  statement."  He  then  withdrew  the 
assertion,  which  he  had  maintained  for  four  years, 
that  Anna  Eichstadter  had  been  murdered  by 
Magdalena  Frauenknecht,  and  affirmed  that  he 
had  heard  one  day  fi'om  INIadame  W.  that  a  certain 
Catherine  Schmidt  had  told  her  that  she  had  been 
told  by  Magdalena  Frauenknecht  that  it  was  not 
she  who  had  murdered  the  woman,  but  her  mother. 
This  new  story  gave  rise  to  fresh  judicial  proceed- 
in  sfs. 

It  so  happened  that  on  the  20th  November,  1817, 
a  Jew  called  Lammfromm  was  executed  at  Land- 
shut  for  murder.  Rienibauer  saw  him  led  out  to 
execution,  and  was  stnick  by  the  tranquillity  and 
cheerfulness  with  which  this  man  went  toward  his 
bloody  end.  On  expressing  his  wonder  that  this 
man,  a  murderer,  and  moreover  a  Jew,  should 
meet  death  vrith  so  much  composure,  he  was  told 
that  ever  since  Lammfromm  had  eased  his  con- 
science by  confessing  his  crime,  he  had  been  in  a 
most  happy  frame  of  mind,  in  which  he  continued 
till  his  death.  From  that  moment  the  Christian  priest 
grew  more  and  more  restless  and  anxious,  ate  and 
drank  less,  and  on  the  26th  requested  another  in- 
terview, "  as  he  thouQfht  he  was  suflTerino:  from  a 
diseased  conscience,  the  pangs  of  which  might  be 
eased  by  a  full  confession."  In  this  inlendew,  which 
\vas  the  hundredth,  he  fell  upon  his  knees,  begged 


THE    TARTUFFE    OF    REAL.    LIFE.  91 

ihat  the  trial  might  be  brought  to  end,  said  that 
lie  was  weary  of"  life,  and  talked  of  all  manner  of 
phantasms — how  he  received  visits  from  strangers 
and  from  persons  whom  he  knew ;  and  how  for 
the  last  three  nights,  after  the  Ave  Maria,  he  had 
heard  the  sad  and  solemn  roll  of  a  fimeral  drum. 
Even  now  he  could  not  at  first  resolve  upon  mak- 
ing a  full  confession.  When  the  judge  observed 
that  his  distress  of  inind  was  entirely  owing  to  his 
guilt,  he  replied  that  "  he  was  exhausted  by  sleep- 
less nights,  but  that  he  had  told  his  story  as  he 
knew  it  and  as  it  occurred."  The  judge  once 
more  recapitulated  all  the  falsehoods,  improbabili- 
ties, and  contradictions  contained  in  his  statement, 
animadverted  upon  his  strangely  pusillanimous  and 
confused  demeanor,  and  concluded  with  the  re- 
mark that  his  feelings  seemed  deeply  touched,  and 
that  he  had  better,  by  a  free  and  full  confession  of 
the  truth,  endeavor  to  obtain  some  peace  of  mind. 
Upon  this  the  criminal  at  last  exclaimed, — "  Yes  ! 
I  feel  deeply  shaken ;  my  health  is  broken  ;  and 
you,  sir,  are  perfectly  right  when  you  say  that  I 
cannot  do  better  than  make  a  repentant  confession. 
But  before  I  take  the  decisive  step,  let  me  implore 
the  royal  protection  for  my  innocent  children,  and 
for  my  last  cook,  Anna  Weninger."  He  then  gave 
directions  for  the  disposal  of  his  property.  "  And 
now  receive  my  sincere  confession  :  Catherine  has 
spoken  falsely  on  many  points,  but  her  assertions 
are  in  the  main  true,  for  it  was  I  who  deprived 
Anna  Eichstadter  of  life." 

After  this  the  criminal  gave,  in  thirteen  several 
examinations,  a  narrative  of  the  whole  transaction. 
His  motive  to  the  crime  was  the  dread  lest  Anna 
Eichstadter  should  unmask  him  before  the  world, 
rob  him  of  his  honor  and  good  name,  and  ruin  his 
prospect  of  preferment.  Anna  declared,  said  Ri- 
embauer,  "  when  I  met  her  at  Ratisbon,  that  she 


92  KE.MAUKAUliK    CKI.MIAAI,    TRIALS. 

Avoulcl  not  part  fiom  me.  I  represented  to  lier 
most  strongly  that  it  was  impossible  for  mo  to  take 
her,  but  all  in  vain.  INIy  position,  my  reputation, 
everything  that  was  sacred  and  dear  to  me,  would 
bo  endangered  by  her  coming  to  Lauterbach. 
1  thought  within  myself,  '  What  is  to  be  done 
should  she  come  V  and  I  suddenly  remembered 
the  maxim  laid  down  by  Father  Benedict  Stattlor 
in  his  Ethica  Christicma*  according  to  which  it  is 
lawful  to  deprive  another  of  life,  when  honor  and 
reputation  cannot  be  otherwise  maintained ;  for 
honor  is  of  higher  value  than  life,  and  the  law  of 
necessity  holds  good  against  those  who  attack  our 
honor,  as  much  as  against  robbers.  1  thought 
over  this  maxim,  which  Professor  St used  for- 
merly to  explain  to  us  young  ecclesiastics  in  his 
lectures;  and  finding  that  it  exactly  applied  to  my 
own  predicament,  I  took  it  as  my  dictamen  practi- 

*  The  chief  passages  from  wliicli  Riembaucr  selected  his  dic- 
tamen practicum  are  the  ISS'Jth,  18'Jlst,  and  18'J3d  paragraphs  of 
this  truly  aiiticlirislian  Ethica  Christiana,  which  appeared  in  1789, 
in  six  thick  volumes.  In  the  above-named  paragraphs  a  christian 
is  allowed  to  prevent  a  "  contumelia  gravis  certo  provisa,  ant  purquarn 
dolore  molcsta,  aut  magnopere  ignominiosa^^  or  a  "  calumnia,"  by  the 
murder  of  the  "  injusti  aggressoris,"  or  "  injusli  rahtmriiatoris." 
This  species  of  morality  would  clearly  justify  a  man  in  secretly 
murdermg  any  one  who  might  be  suspected  of  designing  a  secret 
attack  on  his  honor.  This  is  further  proved  by  the  1893rd  para- 
graph, in  which  a  man  is  permitted  to  rid  himself  of  an  enemy  : — 
"  .S'j  >io?i  ipsa  occisione  iyijusti  calumniatoris  tantundem  periculi  infa- 
rnieB  incurramus,  quantum  vitare  declinatione  calumni<r.  intendinms  :" 
also  "  Si  tantundem  periculi  nobis  ex  occisione  calumniatoris  immincat, 
proficto  utile  remedium  occisio  esse  nan  potest,  ac  proinde  nee  licitum," 
— that  is,  the  murder  should  only  take  place  when  it  can  be  com- 
mitted with  secresy  and  security.  There  is  nothing,  however 
infamous,  for  which  Father  Stattler's  christian  ethics  do  not  af- 
ford a  justification.  The  1891th  jiaragraph  permits  calumny  to 
be  met  by  calumny  :  Licet  cerlam  gravcm  calumniam  quiF  nulla  alio 
remedio,  hoc  uno  autem  ccrto  et  ejjicaciter,  de  pelli  potest,  enervare  im- 
ponendo  caluinniatori  falsum  crimen  prwcise  tale,  nee  inajus  quam  tie- 
cesse  sit,  et  sufficiat  ad  elidendum  calumniatoris  auctoritatem  ac  fidem, 
etfamam  propnam  dependendam  !  Riembauer,  of  course,  reckoned 
Anna  Eichstadter  among  his  ivjustos  aggressores.  Father  Stattler's 
book  is  printed  cum  permissu  superiorum,  and  is  still  used  in  several 
places  as  a  manual  for  ecclesiastics  ! 


TUK    TARTUFFE    OF    REAL    LIFE.  93 

cum.  My  honor,  thought  I,  will  be  lost,  should 
this  wicked  woman  come  to  Lautcrbach  and  carry 
her  threat  into  execution.  1  shall  be  suspended 
by  the  consistory,  my  property  will  be  forfeited, 
and  my  name  will  become  a  repi-oach  and  a  by- 
word thouffhout  the  diocese.  Although  I  had 
considei'ed  this  maxim  of  Stattler's  for  some  time 
past,  and  applied  it  to  my  outi  position,  still  it  was 
but  an  idea,  and  I  had  not  yet  formed  any  plan 
for  putting  it  in  practice." 

While  he  was  engaged  in  these  meditations,  the 
month  of  November,  1807,  found  him  in  arrear 
with  his  payments  to  Anna  Eichstadter  for  the 
support  of  her  child ;  and  as  he  had  no  ready 
money,  he  lived  in  daily  dread  lest  she  should 
come  or  write  to  Lauterbach. 

On  All  Souls'  day,  the  2d  November,  towards 
evening,  as  he  was  carting  home  turnips  accom- 
panied by  Magdalena  Frauenknecht,  he  recognised, 
to  his  utter  dismay,  Anna  Eichstadter  entering 
the  house  at  Thomashof. 

He  found  her  in  the  lower  room,  and  after  a 
short  conversation  took  her  with  him  up-stairs. 
"  I  at  first  intended,"  said  he,  "  to  hide  her  in  l4ie 
loft,  so  that  Magdalena  might  not  see  her.  But  it 
was  already  too  dark,  and  we  turned  back  half 
way.  I  must  confess  that  for  a  moment  I  thought 
of  throwing  her  down  the  stairs,  and  I  don't  ex- 
actly know  why  I  did  not ;  I  was  filled  with  terror, 
and  perhaps  1  thought  within  myself  that  she 
might  only  break  a  limb  in  the  fall,  and  that  then 
matters  would  be  worse  than  before," 

In  his  room  Eiclistadter  told  him  that  she 
was  resolved  to  know  what  she  had  to  expect, 
and  insisted  on  his  taking  her  as  his  cook,  and 
getting  rid  of  Magdalena.  Riembauer  endeavor- 
ed to  pacify  her  by  explaining  the  nature  of  his 
connection  'with  the  Frauenknechts,  and    the  im- 


94  REMARKABLE    CUIMTNAL    TRIALS. 

possibility  of  complying  with  her  demands,  but  in 
vain. 

He  then  left  her  under  pretence  of  fetching  her 
some  beer,  went  down  stairs — where,  he  asserts, 
contrary  to  all  probability,  that  Magdalena  persua- 
ded him  to  murder  Eichstiidtcr — took  a  bread 
knife  and  his  I'azor,  and  returned  to  Eichstiidter, 
who  reiterated  her  demands  with  great  violence 
and  many  threats  of  denouncing  him  to  justice  and 
before  the  consistory,  and  of  publishing  his  true 
character  eveiywhere.  At  this  critical  moment 
Father  Stattler's  maxim  again  recurred  to  his 
mind,  and  he  seized  the  bread-knife  and  stabbed 
Eichstiidter  with  it  on  the  right  side  of  her  throat; 
but  finding  the  knife  too  blunt,  he  dropped  it,  and 
she  endeavored  to  defend  herself;  he  then  held 
her  by  the  throat,  gave  her  a  heavy  blow  on  the 
back  of  her  head,  thrust  his  fingers  into  her  mouth, 
and  tried  to  choke  her,  exhorting  her  in  the  mean 
time  to  repentance  and  confession,  as  she  must  die. 
She  replied  by  earnestly  entreating  him  to  spare 
her  life  ;  "  then,"  said  he,  "  I  took  the  razor  out  of 
my  pocket,  embraced  her  from  behind,  and  with  my 
right  hand  put  the  blade  to  her  throat,  while  with 
my  left  I  forced  it  into  her  windpipe.  I  instantly 
perceived  by  her  sobs  that  1  had  made  a  deep  in- 
cision, and  I  dropped  the  razor.  She  remained 
standino:  for  three  or  four  minutes,  during^  which  I 
said  to  her,  '  Mariandel,  I  pray  to  God  and  to  you 
for  pardon :  you  would  have  it  so.  Pray  to  God 
for  forgiveness  of  your  sins,  and  I  will  give  you 
absolution.'  I  accordingly  gave  it  her,  as  it  was 
in  casu  necessitatis.  She  then  tottered,  as  if  her 
knees  were  failing  under  her ;  and  I  took  her 
under  the  ai'ms,  and  let  her  down  gently ;  for  a 
few  minutes  longer  I  gave  her  religious  consolation 
as  she  lay  on  the  lloor,  until  she  began  to  kick  and 
struggle,  and  presently  breathed  her  last." 


THE    TARTUFFE  OF    REAL.   LIFE.  95 

After  the  murder,  he  went  down-stairs  to  the 
Frauenknechts,  upon  whom  he  enjoined  silence, 
and  washed  the  blood  from  his  hands ;  but  all  at 
once  he  heard  a  noise  of  tramjjling  and  scuffling 
overhead.  "  One  of  the  Frauenknechts,"  continued 
the  prisoner,  "cried  out,  'Jesus  and  Mary!  the 
woman  is  come  to  life  again ;'  and  I  hastened  up- 
stairs in  continued  evil  disposition,  firmly  resolved 
on  no  account  to  suffer  Eichstadtcr  to  return  to 
life,  as  she  would  be  still  more  formidable  to  me 
after  this  catastrophe ;  so  I  drew  her  necker- 
chief tighter,  partly  to  hasten  her  death  and  partly 
to  shorten  her  sufferings  :  whether  she  then  moved, 
I  cannot  determine." 

He  maintained,  in  direct  contradiction  to  Cath- 
erine's statement,  that  the  corpse  lay  the  whole  of 
the  next  day  in  his  room,  and  that  it  was  not  until 
the  night  of  the  3d  November  that  he  buried  it  in 
the  closet  in  the  outhouse.  He  owned  that  he 
himself  had  dug  the  hole,  but  asserted  that  Magda- 
lena  and  her  mother  had  helped  him  to  carry  the 
body  down  the  stairs  and  into  the  outhouse,  and  to 
bury  it  there ;  this  scene  we  will  describe  in  Riem- 
bauer's  own  words:  —  "The  grave  which  I  had 
dug  was  too  short  and  too  shallow,  so  that  the 
head  and  the  arms,  which  had  stiffened  in  an  atti- 
tude of  entreaty,  projected  far  above  the  sand. 
I  therefore  stamped  with  both  feet,  and  with  the 
whole  weight  of  my  body  upon  the  corpse,  in 
which  I  heard  a  strange  i'umbling  noise.  I  then 
covered  it  with  more  sand,  and  some  time  after- 
wards with  brick  rubbish,  because  a  woman  who 
had  come  to  thresh  stumbled  over  one  of  the  hands 
which  protruded  from  the  eai'th." 

He  afterwards  confessed  that  in  cai-rying  Eich- 
stadter's  body  down  the  stairs  one  of  her  shoes  fell 
off",  which  he  chopped  in  pieces  and  threw  upon 
the   dunghill ;    likewise  that  he    appropriated  to 


96  REMARKABLIi    CRIMINAL    TRIALS. 

himself  her  silver  buckle,  her  purse  containing 
about  two  florins,  and  the  green  umbrella  belong- 
ing to  the  priest  at  P ,  and  that  he  effaced  the 

bloody  stains  partly  by  washing  them  with  warm 
water  and  partly  by  planing  the  boards.  "  And 
now,"  he  continued,  "  I  have  nothing  further  to 
tell  about  this  sad  story,  save  my  silent  grief  and 
soiTow,  and  that  I  have  applied  *  frequent  masses 
for  the  soul  of  Anna  Eichstadter." 

Even  after  confessing  every  circumstance  of  the 
crime,  he  showed  no  true  repentance  ;  but  con- 
tinued to  exert  his  skill  in  casuistry  to  justify  or 
extenuate  the  murder.  Sometimes  he  would  main- 
tain that  his  hands  had  been  impelled  by  terror, 
fear,  and  sudden  impulse,  and  that  the  gash  had 
thus  been  inflicted  without  the  consent  of  his  rea- 
son. When  it  was  objected  to  him  that  this  excuse 
stood  in  direct  contradiction  to  his  assertion  of 
having  acted  upon  the  maxim  of  Father  Stattler, 
he  attempted  to  prove  that  his  reasoning  powers 
were  lulled  to  sleeji  by  the  maxim  in  question, 
while  horror  and  dread  rendered  all  further  action 
merely  mechanical.  Another  time  he  wonld  quote 
the  doctrine  that  all  means  are  justified  by  the  end, 
and  would  prove  that  his  purpose  being  noble,  his 
action  could  not  l)e  criminal.  "  I  had  no  object 
but  that  of  preventing  the  many  evils  and  sins 
arising  from  public  scandal,  and  of  upholding  the 
honor  of  the  clergy  and  the  reverence  due  to  my 
sacred  calling.  Had  I  not  stood  in  such  high  con- 
sideration with  the  pcojile,  I  might  juore  readily 
have  submitted  to  the  disgrace.  But  I  foresaw 
that  the  discovery  of  my  crime  would  bring  with 
it  a  train  of  evils  ;  that  many  men  would  hence- 
forth think  all  sins  permitted ;  some  would  cease 

*  An  expression  which  shows  the  estimation  in  which  this  priest 
hnlil  the  holy  ofliccs  of  his  cluirrh  :  he  talks  of  applying  a  mass 
as  an  apothecary  would  of  ap|)lying  a  blister, 


THE    TARTUFFE    OF    REAL   LIFE.  97 

to  believe  in  God,  others  would  no  longer  hold 
anything  sacred."  Thus  Iliembauer  not  only  com- 
mitted murder  ad  majorem  Dei  gloriam,  but  for 
the  same  cause  persevered  for  four  long  years  in 
denying  his  crime.  "It  was,"  said  he,  "only  in 
order  to  preserve  the  honor  of  the  clergy  in  my 
person  that  I  pined  so  many  years  in  captivity 
vdthout  confessing  my  crime.  But  as  soon  as  I 
perceived  that  it  was  the  will  of  God  that  I  should 
reveal  the  deed,  I  made  a  full  confession."  So 
utterly  perverted  and  corrupt  was  the  mind  of  this 
Tartuffe,  that  he  actually  boasted  that  he  had  de- 
served well  of  the  State  by  his  deceit  and  hypo- 
crisy. "  I  have  openly  confessed,"  says  he,  "  my 
manner  of  life,  and  I  think  myself  entitled  to  some 
indulgence  for  so  governing  my  conduct  as  to  cause 
no  public  scandal." 

With  regard  to  the  alleged  poisoning  of  Magda- 
lena  Frauenknecht  and  her  mother,  no  proof  was 
forthcoming.  The  bodies  were  exhumed  in  1813, 
but  no  trace  of  poison  was  discovered,  and  every- 
thing led  to  the  conclusion  that  they  died  of  a 
nervous  fever  which  at  that  time  raged  in  the 
district  of  the  Danube,  and  which  killed  many 
persons  in  the  neighborhood,  among  others  an 
Austrian  soldier,  who,  from  charity,  was  taken 
into  the  manse,  and  nursed  by  Magdalena  herself. 
Riembauer  denied  having  any  hand  in  the  death 
of  these  two  women. 

Several  other  circumstances  appeared  . during 
the  course  of  inquiry ;  among  others,  a  charge  of 
forging  a  document  for  635  florins,  in  which  the 
gi'ounds  of  suspicion  were  very  strong  against  the 
prisoner,  although  he  did  not  confess.  In  his 
107th  examination,  he  related  that  once  when  the 
innkeeper  of  GrafenlTaubach  refused  him  a  loan 
of  money,  he  had  meditated  burning  his  house 
down.  This  was  to  prove  that  sinful  thoughts  are 
7  I 


98  REMARKABLE    CRIMINAL    TRIALS. 

not  crimes.  Ho  also  said,  in  another  examination, 
in  order  to  show  his  sincerity,  that  he  had  once 
fervently  prayed  to  God  to  destroy  some  man  who 
was  hateful  to  him,  and  that  the  man  had  died, 
probably  from  the  effect  of  his  prayers. 

However,  the  murder  of  Anna  Eichstadter  was 
the  chief  point  under  consideration  of  the  court. 

So  long  as  Riombauer  denied  his  guilt,  the 
whole  force  of  the  examination  was  directed,  to 
cumulate  evidence  against  him.  Catherine's  testi- 
mony  was  on  some  points  defective.  Riembauer's 
confession  removed  all  difficulties,  and  changed  the 
whole  posture  of  affairs. 

It  was  confirmed  beyond  doubt  by  the  evidence 
of  Riembauer's  own  brother,  who  up  to  this  time 
had  resolutely  denied,  in  the  face  of  several  wit- 
nesses, all  knowledge  of  his  brother's  crime.  He 
now  made  the  following  statement : — 

"  I  am  indeed  in  a  most  terrible  position  :  Riem- 
bauer  is  not  only  my  brother,  but  has  also  been 
my  constant  benefactor  5  gratitude  and  fraternal 
love  have  induced  me  hitherto  to  deny  all  knowl- 
edge of  the  murder  of  Eichstlidter,  but  now  that 
my  brother  has  himself  confessed  the  di-eadful 
deed,  I  may  speak  without  incurring  the  reproach 
of  ingi-atitude.  I  once  visited  my  brother  at  his 
parsonage  at  Priel,  and  stayed  there  three  or  four 
weeks :  one  evening  his  cookmaid,  Ma^dalena 
Frauenknecht,  a  good  quiet  girl,  came  to  my  bed- 
side, and  began  to  weep  bitterly.  I  asked  her 
why  she  cried,  and  she  answered,  '  Ah  !  brother, 
if  you  knew  what  I  know,  you  would  cry  too  !'  " 

Riembauer's  brother  then  repeated  Magdalena's 
statement,  which  exactly  coincided  with  that  of 
Catherine,  save  only  that  she  admitted  that  she 
herself  was  present  at  the  murder,  and  helped  her 
master  to  carry  the  body  into  the  outhouse,  and  to 
bury  it  there.    Her  reason  for  confiding  the  story  to 


THE  TARTUFFE    OF    REAL    LIFE.  99 

Riembaucr's  brother  was,  that  the  farmer  who  had 
bought  Thomashof  of  him  was  then  digging  in  the 
outhouse,  and  she  was  afi-aid  lest  the  body  might 
be  discovered.  ''  I  knew  not  what  to  say,"  con- 
tinued his  brother,  "  save  my  hoiTor  of  the  crime, 
and  that  I  could  advise  her  nothing,  but  to  let 
things  take  their  course." 

Riembauer's  confession  is  complete,  consistent 
in  all  its  parts,  and  legally  sufficient.  It  tallied 
with  a  number  of  facts  which  were  proved  by 
other  witnesses.  It  was  certain  that  Anna  Eich- 
stiidter  had  a  child  by  Riembauer,  that  she  pressed 
him  for  money,  and  that  at  the  time  of  the  murder 
he  had  none  to  give  to  her.  It  was  further  proved 
that  Eichstadter  had  left  Priel  on  All  Souls'  day, 
1S07,  and  might  easily  have  reached  Lauterbach 
the  same  day,  and  that  she  was  never  after  seen 
alive.  On  the  very  spot  described  by  Riembauer 
himself  the  skeleton  of  a  woman  was  found,  which 
was  recognised  by  the  teeth  as  that  of  Anna  Eich- 
stadter. Six  years  after  the  murder  there  were 
spots  of  blood  upon  the  floor  of  Riembauer's  room, 
as  well  as  marks  of  the  plane,  evidently  made  in 
endeavoring  to  obliterate  the  traces  of  the  murder. 
Only  one  shoe  was  found— Riembauer  mentioned 
having  chopped  the  other  in  pieces. 

According  to  the  common  law  of  Germany,  the 
proof  of  a  murder  having  been  committed,  con- 
firmed by  the  confession  of  the  murderer,  justifies 
sentence  of  death  ;  *  and  in  Riembauer's  case  the 
fact  had  been  fully  proved  and  the  confession 
made;  nor  were  there  any  extenuating  circum- 
stances which  should  mitigate  the  severity  of  the 
usual  punishment. 

Nevertheless,  on  the  1st  August,  1818,  the  court 
passed  the  following  sentence  on  the  criminal : — 

*  Stiibel  liber  den  That  bestand  der  Verbrechen. 


100  REMARKABLE   CRIMINAL    TRIALS. 

"  Francis  Salesius  Riembaucr  is  found  guilty  of 
murder,  and  is  condemned  to  imprisonment  of  the 
severest  kind  in  a  fortress  for  life," 

The  reasons  assigned  for  so  lenient  a  sentence 
•were,  first,  that  tlie  fact  of  the  murder  was  not 
clearly  proved,  as  the  skeleton,  which  had  lain  six. 
years  in  the  damp  earth,  bore  no  marks  of  violence  ;* 
and  secondly,  that  Riembauer's  character  was  not 
notoriously  bad.t 

*  Art.  271  of  the  Bavarian  code. 

t  When  the  fact  of  a  murder  having  been  committed  rests 
chiefly  on  the  murderer's  confession,  the  Bavarian  penal  code 
(art.  209,  i}  2)  requires  that  "  the  accused  should  be  either  a  noto- 
rious crimmal,  or  one  proved  by  the  clearest  circumstantial  evi- 
dence to  be  a  person  from  whom  such  a  crime  as  that  of  which 
he  is  accused  may  be  expected."  Feuerbach  adduces  several  ex- 
cellent but  obvious  arguments  against  this  law,  and  states  hi-s 
opinion  that  in  this  particular  case  every  condition  required  by 
law  was  fulfilled,  and  every  defect  in  the  evidence  supplied  by  the 
confession. 


THE  UNKNOWN  MURDERER; 

OR, 

THE    POLICE    AT    FAULT. 


In  the  year   1817   there  lived  in  the  town  of 

M a  goldsmith  of  the  name  of  Christopher 

Rupprecht.  He  was  between  the  ages  of  sixty 
and  sixty-five,  and  in  easy  circumstances.  He  had 
been  twelve  years  a  widower,  and  had  but  one 
child  living,  a  daughter,  married  to  a  furrier  named 
Bieringer,  a  brother  and  two  sisters.  Rupprecht 
could  neither  read  nor  write,  and  therefore  kept  no 
accounts  either  of  his  trade  or  of  the  money  he  lent 
out  at  intei'est,  but  trusted  entirely  to  his  memory 
and  to  the  assistance  he  occasionally  received  from 
others  in  arranging  and  drawing  up  his  bills.  He 
was  a  man  of  vulgar  mind  and  coarse  habits,  fond 
of  associating  with  people  of  the  very  lowest  class, 
and  of  fi-equenting  alehouses,  Avhere  his  chief  de- 
light was  in  slang  and  abuse,  and  where  he  suffered 
himself  to  be  made  the  butt  of  the  roughest  jokes 
and  the  most  vulgar  witticisms.  His  niling  pas- 
sion was  avarice,  and  his  favorite  business  the 
lending  money  at  usurious  intei-est.  Though  rich, 
he  deprived  himself  of  necessaries,  and  was  glad 
when  his  sister  or  his  dausrhter  sent  him  a  dinner ; 
and  for  a  long  time  after  his  wife's  death  he  kept 
no  servant,  in  order  to  save  food  and  wages.  Two 
days  before  the  occurrence  which  caused  the  pre- 
sent inquiry,  he  had  taken  one  into  his  serv^ice. 
Hard,  morose,  and  repulsive,  as  a  miser  is  apt  tq 

i2 


102  REMARKART-E    CRIMINAL    TRIALS. 

be,  and  at  the  same  time  crotchety,  violent,  and 
ready  on  the  most  trifling  occasion  to  use  abusive 
language,  he  kept  most  of  his  family  at  a  distance. 
His  daughter  and  his  sister  Clara  visited  him  reg- 
ularly, but  his  brother,  with  whom  he  had  a  law- 
suit, and  his  other  sister,  avoided  his  company; 
he  had  also  quarrelled  with  his  son-in-law  several 
months  before,  and  had  ceased  to  see  him  from 
that  time.  He  was  cross-grained  and  quaiTel- 
some,  continually  at  law  with  his  neighbors,  and 
on  bad  tenus  with  a  number  of  people,  though  no 
one  could  be  pointed  out  as  his  declared  enemy. 

For  about  a  year  he  had  been  in  the  daily  habit 
of  frequenting  a  small  beer-shop,  commonly  called 
the  Hell.  To  this  place,  which  was  scarce  fifty 
yards  distance  from  his  own  house,  Rupprecht  went 
on  the  7th  Febi'uary,  at  half-past  eight  in  the 
evenino'  in  his  dressincr-gcown  and  with  a  leathern 
cap  on  his  head.  The  party  assembled  there,  con- 
sisted of  eleven  respectable  burghers,  who  sat  talking 
and  drinking  together  till  about  half-past  ten,  when 
Kupprecht  called  for  another  glass  of  beer,  and  the 
host  left  the  upper  parlor  where  his  guests  were 
assembled,  and  went  down  into  the  tap  to  fetch  it. 

As  he  was  going  up-stairs  with  the  beer,  and  had 
almost  reached  the  top,  he  heard  the  bell  over  the 
street-door,  and  on  asking  what  was  wanted,  he 
was  answered  in  a  strange  voice  by  the  inquiry 
whether  Mr.  Rupprecht  was  there.  Without 
looking  round,  the  host  answered  that  he  was,  and 
the  stranger  requested  him  to  desire  Rupprecht  to 
step  down  to  him  for  a  moment.  The  host  deliv- 
ered the  message  to  his  guest,  who  instantly  rose 
and  left  the  room.  Scarcely  a  minute  had  elapsed, 
when  the  other  guests  were  alarmed  by  hearing 
loud  groans  like  those  of  a  person  in  a  fit  of  apoplexy. 
They  all  hastened  down-stairs,  and  found  Rup- 
precht lying  just  within  the  door,  covered  with 


THE    UNKNOWN    MURDERER.  103 

blood,  which  was  pouring  out  of  a  large  wound  on 
his  head.  About  a  foot  and  a  half  from  the  body- 
lay  his  cap,  cut  evidently  by  a  sharp  instrument. 
He  was  only  able  to  mutter  the  words  "  Wicked 
rogue!  wicked  rogue!  with  the  axe!"  When 
asked  whether  he  knew  who  had  done  it,  he  made 
an  efibrt  to  speak,  but  no  one  could  understand 
what  he  said.  The  guests  carried  him  into  the 
parlor,  where  he  began  to  moan  and  mutter  un- 
intelligibly. Excited  by  the  questions  of  one  of  the 
guests  as  to  whether  he  knew  the  man,  he  dis- 
tinctly said  "My  daughter!  my  daughter!" 
which  was  understood  to  mean  that  he  wished  to 
see  Madame  Bieringer:  she  was  accordingly  in- 
formed of  what  had  happened,  and  brought  to  the 
house  by  one  of  those  present ;  but  Rupprecht 
apparently  did  not  recognise  her  ;  he  was  insen- 
sible, and.  lay  moaning  like  one  in  a  fit,  with  his 
head  drooping  upon  his  breast  and  his  limbs 
paralysed. 

The  physician  and  surgeon  attached  to  the 
Criminal  Court  were  sent  for,  and  found  a  wound, 
four  inches  long,  which  had  penetrated  the  skull. 
This  they  attributed  to  a  blow  from  some  sharp 
heavy  instrument — according  to  all  appearances  a 
large  sabre,  wielded  by  a  practised  hand. 

The  Hell  Tavern  stands  in  the  end  of  a  nan-ow 
dark  alley,  from  which  there  is  no  outlet.  The 
side  on  which  is  the  door  forms  an  angle  with  the 
opposite  house,  so  deep  that  no  light  falls  into  it  by 
night.  Two  stone  steps  lead  up  to  the  house-door, 
of  which  one  wing  only  opens,  and  is  provided  with 
a  bell.  Outside  the  door,  on  the  left  of  these  steps, 
is  a  stone  bench.  The  hall  within  is  small,  narrow, 
and  little  more  than  six  feet  high  }  the  wound 
could  not  therefore  have  been  inflicted  upon  Rup- 
precht in  the  hall,  as  space  and  height  were  re- 
quired to  give  force  to  the  blow.     It  would  more- 


104  REMARKABLE    CRIMmAL    TRIALS. 

over  have  been  madness  to  attempt  the  deed  in  a 
passage  which  was  hghted  hy  an  oil-lamp,  which, 
though  dim,  would  have  enabled  the  victim  or  a 
passer-by  to  recognise  the  murderer.  In  the  hall, 
too,  Rupprecht  coming  down  the  stairs  would  have 
met  his  enemy  face  to  face,  and  must  have  seen 
him  pi'cpare  for  the  attack,  from  which  he  might 
easily  have  escaped  by  running  to  the  rooms 
above. 

Supposing  the  wound — which  slanted  down- 
ward, and  had  evidently  been  inflicted  from  behind 
— to  have  been  given  during  Rupprecht's  flight  up 
the  stairs,  those  who  ran  down  on  hearing  his 
screams  would  have  found  the  wounded  man  on 
the  staircase,  or  at  any  rate  close  to  the  foot  of  it. 
But  he  was  found  just  within  the  house-door,  and 
it  is  far  more  likely  that,  after  receiving  the  wound 
outside,  he  tottered  back  into  the  hall  and  fell 
there,  than  that  he  should  have  attempted  to  reach 
the  house-door  after  being  wounded  in  endeavoring 
to  escape  up  the  stairs. 

Again,  the  wound  was  on  the  left  side  of  the 
head,  and  the  dark  comer  we  have  before  men- 
tioned is  on  the  left  hand  of  any  one  leaving  the 
tavern.  The  probability  therefore  is  that  Rup- 
precht received  the  wound  on  the  very  door-step. 
In  this  case  he  had  but  to  totter  one  step  back  to 
fall  on  the  spot  where  he  was  found.  It  would 
have  been  scarcely  possible  for  one  in  Rupprecht's 
condition  to  retain  suflicicnt  strength  to  crawl  up 
the  steps  from  the  street  into  the  hall. 

On  the  other  hand,  it  would  have  been  impossible 
for  the  murderer,  standing  in  the  street,  to  have 
struck  Rupprecht  from  behind,  while  he  stood  on 
the  door-steps.  This  difficulty  is,  however,  com- 
pletely removed  by  the  stone  bench  on  the  left  of 
the  door,  which  we  have  already  mentioned. 

Thus  all  circumstances  combine  to  make  us  conr 


THE    UNKNOWN    MURDERER.  105 

elude  that  the  occurrence  took  place  as  follows  : — 
As  soon  as  the  murderer  had  requested  the  land- 
lord to  send  Rupprecht  down  to  him,  he  went  into 
the  dark  corner  on  the  left,  mounted  the  stone  bench 
near  the  door-steps,  and  stood  there  in  readiness  to 
strike.  Rupprecht  went  down-stairs,  expecting  to 
find  some  one  who  wanted  to  speak  to  him  on 
business,  and  seeing  no  one  in  the  passage,  went 
outside  the  door  and  turned  to  look  down  the 
street  after  the  man  who  had  sent  for  him,  when 
he  was  struck  a  well-aimed  heavy  blow  from  the 
stone  bench  behind  him. 

Nothing  was  found  on  or  near  the  spot  that 
could  throw  the  slightest  suspicion  on  any  one,  nor 
could  any  person  present  form  a  conjecture  as  to  the 
author  or  the  motive  of  the  deed. 

Something,  it  was  hoped,  would  be  learnt  from 
the  wounded  man  himself  when  he  should  have 
recovered  consciousness.  On  the  evening  of  the 
following  day,  the  8th  of  February,  the  judge  and 
two  other  officers  of  the  court  accordingly  visited 
him,  and  found  him  sensible.  He  frequently  said 
"Oh,  dear  !  Oh,  dear  !"  and  when  he  wished  for 
something  to  drink,  he  pronounced  the  word  beer 
plainly  enough.  Conceiving  him  to  be  in  a  fit 
state  to  give  information,  the  judge  asked  him  the 
following  questions,  which  were  thus  answered  by 
the  wounded  man  : — Who  struck  you  the  blow? — 
"  Schmidt."  Wliat  Schmidt  1 — "  Woodcutter." 
Wliere  does  he  live  1 — "  In  the  Most."  With  what 
did  he  strike  you  1 — "  Hatchet."  How  did  you 
recognise  him  1 — "  By  his  voice."  Does  Schmidt 
owe  you  money  1 — He  shook  his  head.  What  then 
could  have  induced  Schmidt  to  do  such  a  thing  1 — 
"  Quarrel."  As  Rupprecht  was  unable  to  speak 
connectedly,  no  questions  were  asked  about  the 
nature  of  this  quarrel.  But  when  the  first  and 
second  questions  were  again  put  to  him,  he  distinctly 


106  REMARKABLE    CRIMINAL    TRIALH. 

repeated  the  words  "  Schmidt — woodcutter."  The 
judge  ordered  that  an  officer  of  the  court  should  be 
in  constant  attendance  on  the  wounded  man,  in 
order  to  gather  every  word  that  might  fall  from  his 
lips.  In  this  man's  presence  Rupprecht  continually- 
repeated  "  Schmidt — woodcutter,"  whenever  any 
one,  his  maid-servant,  his  daughter,  his  sister,  or 
his  son-in-law  asked  him  who  the  murderer  was. 
Only  when  his  sister  Clara  asked  him  if  he  knew 
who  had  struck  the  blow,  he  muttered  something 
apparently  in  the  negative. 

The  first  though  not  the  sole  object  of  the  judge 
now  was  to  discover  the  Schmidt  of  whom  Rup- 
precht was  thinking.  But  in  this  town,  as  every- 
where else,  there  were  a  vast  number  of  people 
called  Schmidt,  several  of  whom  were  woodcutters. 
Three  of  these  especially  engaged  the  attention  of 
the  court :  the  first  was  a  certain  Abraham 
Schmidt,  who  lived  in  the  Hohes  Pflaster,  and  who, 
it  was  rumored,  had  once  been  taken  up  with  a 
band  of  robbers  and  been  sent  to  the  House  of 
Correction.  The  second  was  one  John  Gabriel 
Schmidt,  commonly  known  as  "big  Schmidt,"  who 
lived  in  a  sti'eet  called  the  Walch,  and  had  for- 
merly been  on  friendly  terms  withRupprecht,  whose 
favor  he  had  lately  lost  by  some  evidence  which 
he  gave  against  him  in  an  action  for  defamation. 
The  third  was  big  Schmidt's  half-brother,  distin- 
guished from  him  by  the  name  of"  little  Schmidt  :" 
he  also  lived  in  the  AValch,  and  was  one  of  Rup- 
precht's  acquaintance. 

This  seemed  to  point  out  the  direction  in  which 
investigation  shoidd  be  made.  On  the  10th  Febru- 
ary the  physician  announced  that  Rupprecht  had 
been  trepanned  the  day  before  and  was  now  sen- 
sible, and  a  commission  of  inquiry  with  two  wit- 
nesses accordingly  went  to  his  house.  The  judge 
seated   himself  beside  the  bed  and  greeted  Rup- 


THE    UNKNOWN    MURDERER.  107 

precht,  who  opened  his  eyes,  looked  about  him,  and 
distinctly  answered  "  Yes"  to  the  judge's  question 
whether  he  knew  him.  The  judge,  convinced  by 
this  and  other  appearances  that  the  wounded  man 
was  in  the  possession  of  his  faculties,  desired  him 
to  remember  that,  when  asked  about  his  wound, 
he  had  always  mentioned  a  name  in  connection 
with  it,  told  him  that  the  commission  was  now 
come  to  take  down  his  deposition  in  the  presence 
of  witnesses,  and  adjured  him  to  reflect  upon  the 
danger  in  which  he  lay,  the  infinite  knowledge  and 
justice  of  God,  and  the  awful  consequences  of 
every  false  word.  Then  came  the  following 
questions  and  answers.  "  Do  you  know  who 
struck  the  blow  ]"  Rupprecht  repeatedly  moved 
his  right  hand,  imitating  the  motion  of  striking,  and 
answered  "  Schmidt."  "  Have  I  understood  you 
aright]  did  you  say  Schmidt  r'  "Yes."  "Who 
is  this  Schmidt  ?"  "  Woodcutter."  "  How  do  you 
know  that  it  was  Schmidt,  since  it  was  dark  V 
E-upprecht  endeavored  to  speak,  but  could  not 
utter  a  sound.  He  then  moved  his  right  arm  with 
increased  vehemence.  "  But  there  are  several  of 
that  name  ;  can  you  tell  me  whether  you  mean  the 
big  or  the  little  Schmidt  V  Rupprecht  made  vain 
attempts  to  answer  this  and  the  question  where 
the  Schmidt  lived  to  whom  he  refeiTed.  When 
asked  whether  he  lived  in  the  Walch,  the  Schutt, 
or  the  Most,  Rupprecht  was  silent.  At  last,  when 
asked  whether  Schmidtlived  on  the  Hohes  Pflaster, 
he  distinctly  answered  "  Yes."  Hereupon  he  sunk 
into  a  state  of  stupor,  and  the  inquiry  had  to  be 
postponed. 

As  equal  suspicion  attached  to  the  three 
Schmidts  above  named,  Abraham,  as  well  as  the 
big  and  the  little  Schmidt,  were  an-ested  that  even- 
ing ;  and  notwithstanding  the  alarming  condition 
of  the  wounded  man,  they  Avere  severally  taken  to 


1C8  REMARKABLE    CRIMINAL    TRIALS. 

his  bed-side  on  the  chance  that  the  murderer  might 
be  recognised  by  Rupprecht,  or  that  fresh  cause 
for  suspicion  might  appear  against  him  on  the  oc- 
casion. Rupprecht  appeared  sensible,  but  could 
not  open  his  eyes,  so  that  the  main  object  entirely 
failed.  Both  the  big  and  the  little  Schmidt  ap- 
peared perfectly  unembarrassed  :  the  former  ex- 
claimed several  times,  "  Poor  Christopher  !  how  ill 
you  have  been  served  —  poor  fellow,  many's  the 
good  jest  we  have  had  together.  He  must  have 
owed  you  a  powerful  grudge  who  could  serve 
you  so."  He  likewise  called  to  him  repeatedly, 
"  Christopher !  Christopher  !  your  Hans  is  here," 
&c.  Abraham  Schmidt  behaved  far  differently: 
when  asked  whether  he  knew  the  man  in  bed,  he 
at  first  answered,  "  I  do  not  know  him,"  but  imme- 
diately added,  "  That  is  Mr.  Rupprecht,  I  know 
him  well ;  what  is  the  matter  with  him  ]"  When 
asked  why  he  at  first  said  he  did  not  know  him,  he 
answered,  "  Because  that  is  Mr.  Rupprecht."  He 
was  then  desired  to  give  a  proper  answer,  but  only 
exclaimed,  "  I  can  give  no  answer ;  I  did  not  do 
it ;  ah  !  good  Lord  !  I  did  not  do  it ;  I  am  not  the 
man  ;  as  I  hope  for  mercy,  I  am  innocent.  I  am 
a  poor  woodcutter.  You  may  ask  my  neighbors, 
my  wife,  and  my  mother.  On  Friday  night  I  was 
cutting  pegs  at  the  house  of  my  mother-in-law,  till 
eleven  o'clock,  and  on  Saturday  and  Sunday  I  was 
at  home."  On  being  asked  at  what  hour  he  had 
gone  home  on  Friday  night,  he  said,  "  I  stayed 
until  past  nine  with  my  mother-in-law."  When 
the  manifest  contradiction  in  his  statement  was 
pointed  out  to  him,  he  only  repeated,  "  From  nine 
to  eleven."  These  strange  contradictoiy  answei-s 
and  the  agitation  and  confusion  exhibited  by  the 
prisoner,  together  with  the  circumstance  that  Rup- 
precht had  that  morning  mentioned  Schmidt  on 
the  Holies  Pflaster,  seemed  to  point  suspicion  to- 


THE  UNKNOWN  MURDERER.        109 

wards  Abraham  Schmidt,  who  was  accordingly- 
placed  in  arrest. 

The  following  morning,  at  about  five  o'clock 
(the  11th  February),  Rupprecht  died,  without  hav- 
ing recovered  his  speech  or  consciousness. 

Meanwhile  suspicion  strengthened  against  Abra- 
ham Schmidt.  The  police  handed  the  hatchets 
belonging  to  the  three  suspected  men  into  court, 
and  that  of  Abraham  Schmidt  was  spotted  appa- 
rently with  blood. 

On  his  examination  he  stated  that  he  was  about 
six-and-thirty,  a  Lutheran,  and  the  son  of  a  nail- 
maker,  and  that  he  had  at  first  learnt  the  trade  of 
pinmaking,  but  that  finding  it  insufiicient  for  his 
support,  he  had  become  a  woodcutter.  He  had 
been  married  five  years,  and  had  had  two  children, 
of  which  one,  a  boy  a  year  and  a  half  old,  was  liv- 
ing. He  had  once  been  in  prison,  about  twelve 
or  fifteen  years  before,  for  carting  some  stolen  veg- 
etables into  the  town  for  other  people.  He  asserted 
that  he  was  perfectly  mnocent  of  the  murder  of 
Rupprecht,  whom  he  had  neither  known  nor  seen. 
Hereupon  he  was  reminded  that  when  the  wounded 
man  was  showTi  to  him,  he  had  at  first  said  that  he 
did  not  know  him,  but  had  immediately  after  re- 
cognised him  as  Rupprecht :  how  was  this  ]  He 
then  replied,  "  I  do  not  know  why  I  said  that,  and 
I  said  it  was  Rupprecht  directly,  but  I  never 
saw  him  in  my  life  before."  He  was  then  asked 
how  then  he  had  recognised  him,  and  answered 
that  "  every  one  was  talking  of  the  murder,  and 
that  he  had  heard  of  it  at  the  public-house." 
Whenever  he  was  questioned  as  to  where  he  was 
on  Friday  evening  at  the  time  of  the  murder,  he 
invariably  involved  himself  in  contradictions.  The 
judge  questioned  him  as  follows  : — "  Where  were 
you  last  Friday  ■?"  "I  went  to  the  house  of  my 
raother-in-law  at  nine  o'clock  in  the  morning,  to 

K 


110  REMARKABLE    CRIMINAL    TRIALS. 

help  her  to  cut  pegs.  I  dinetl  with  her,  and  did  not 
leave  her  house  till  nine  o'clock  at  night,  when  I 
took  my  little  boy  home,  went  to  bed  directly, 
and  did  not  get  up  again  until  seven  o'clock  on 
Saturday  morning."  "  When  did  your  wife  leave 
your  mother's  house  V  "  At  ten  o'clock."  *'  Why 
did  you  not  go  together  ]"  "  Because  she  was 
still  at  work,  and  as  the  boy  would  not  go  to  sleep, 
she  asked  me  to  take  him  home,  which  I  did." 
"  At  what  o'clock,  then,  did  you  go  home  on  Fri- 
day ?"  "  At  nine  o'clock."  "  Yesterday  you 
said  it  was  at  eleven  ;  how  is  that  V  After  some 
hesitation,  "  I  don't  know  what  you  want  of  me  :  I 
went  home  with  my  wife  at  eleven."  "  Just  now 
you  asserted  that  you  went  home  at  nine  1"  "  All 
my  neighbors  can  testify  that  I  always  come  home 
at  nine."  "  That  answer  will  not  suffice  ;  first  you 
say  nine  and  then  eleven :  which  is  the  truth  V 
"  At  nine  o'clock,  with  my  wife  and  my  child.  No, 
my  wife  stayed  a  little  longer  with  her  mother." 
"  Who  took  the  child  home  1"  *'  I  took  him  home 
with  me  at  nine  o'clock."  "  When  did  your  wife 
come  home?"  "After  ten  o'clock."  "How  do 
you  know  that  V  "  Because  she  always  comes 
home  at  that  time ;  I  was  asleep  when  she  came, 
and  can't  tell  exactly  when  it  was.  I  did  not  wake, 
though  I  sleep  in  the  same  bed  with  her  and  the 
child."  "  Have  you  a  key  of  the  house  V  "  Yes, 
but  my  mother  has  got  it."  "  How  then  did  your 
wife  get  in  1"  "  My  wife  took  the  key  with  her." 
"  You  said  at  first  that  your  mother  had  the  key 
the  whole  night  through  1"  "  Yes,  it  lay  upon  the 
table."  "  Then  your  wife  could  not  have  used  it 
to  let  herself  into  the  house  V  "  So  I  said,  for  my 
wife  went  homo  with  me  and  put  the  boy  to  bed, 
and  then  she  took  the  house-door  key  and  went  back 
to  her  mother."  "  How  long  did  she  stay  there  1" 
"  Till  eleven."     "  You  said  before  that  she  carao 


THE  UNKNOWN  MURDERER.        Ill 

home  at  ten  V     "  I  was  asleep,  I  can't  tell  whether 
it  was  ten  or  eleven  when  she  came  home." 

At  first  the  accused  did  not  seem  embarrassed, 
and  answered  readily,  but  appeared  anxious  to 
avoid  entering  into  details  ;  and  on  being  told  that 
he  contradicted  himself,  he  grew  impatient,  hesi- 
tated, coughed,  and  stamped.  He  did  not  encoun- 
ter the  searching  gaze  of  the  judge,  but  looked 
down  or  on  one  side. 

The  same  evening  Rupprecht's  dead  body  was 
shown  to  him,  and  he  was  asked  whether  he  recog- 
nised it.  "  This,"  he  answered,  "  is  Mr.  Rupprecht. 
I  can  swear  to  you  by  my  conscience  and  my  honor, 
and  to  Almighty  God  by  my  hope  of  salvation,  that 
I  never  injured  this  man ;  for  I  never  saw  him  be- 
fore in  all  my  life."  "  You  say  you  never  saw  him 
before  now;  how  then  do  you  know  him'?"  "I 
heard  of  him  from  the  people  here  and  in  the  pub- 
lic-house ;  besides,  I  saw  him  yesterday.  My  heart 
and  my  soul  are  free  from  guilt :  I  never  banned  this 
man.  I  am  in  your  power,  and  you  may  do  with 
me  what  you  will.  I  am  a  child  of  innocence." 
When  the  accused  first  entered  the  room,  he  ap- 
peared much  oppressed  and  overcome,  but  while 
asserting  his  innocence  his  fimmess  soon  returaed. 

The  person  of  the  prisoner  had  been  carefully 
examined  when  he  was  first  taken  to  prison,  but 
no  stain  of  blood  Avas  found  upon  his  body  or  his 
clothes.  His  house,  and  that  of  his  step-mother,  / 
were  rigidly  searched,  and  in  them  were  found  to- 
kens of  great  poverty,  but  not  of  crime. 

He  accounted  for  the  blood  on  his  hatchet  by 
Baying  that  his  hand  was  chapped  with  the  cold, 
and  had  bled  the  day  before,  and  that  this  might 
have  caused  the  stains.  But  these  stains  were 
close  to  the  blade,  and  it  was  his  right  hand  which 
was  chapped,  whereas,  in  chopping  wood,  the  left 
hand  would  naturally  be  nearest  to  the  blade  of 


112  REMARKABLE    CRIMINAL    TRIALS. 

the  axe,  while  the  right  hand  grasped  the  handle. 
On  further  inquiry,  liowever,  the  accused  was  found 
to  be  left-handed,  which  solved  the  difficulty. 

A  comparison  of  the  axe  with  the  wound  and 
the  cut  in  the  leathern  cap  rendered  it,  to  say  the 
least,  very  doubtful  whetlier  such  a  weapon  could 
have  been  the  one  employed :  the  edge  of  the  axe 
was  only  three  inches  and  one-third  in  length, 
while  the  wound  measured  four  inches,  and  the 
cut  in  the  cap  nearly  four  inches  and  a  half;  and 
an  axe  cannot  be  drawn  in  striking. 

As  the  murderer  had  called  to  the  landlord  of 
the  tavern  to  send  Rupprccht  down  to  him,  the 
trial  was  made  whether  Abraham  Schmidt  could 
be  recognised  by  his  voice  as  the  assassin.  The 
landlord  at  first  doubted  the  possibility  of  such  a 
recognition,  as  he  had  paid  no  jjarticular  attention 
to  the  voice  at  the  time,  and  the  subsequent  fright 
had  driven  all  recollection  of  it  out  of  his  head — 
the  experiment  could,  however,  do  no  harm.  The 
judge  sent  for  Schmidt  into  the  audience-chamber, 
while  the  landlord  was  placed  in  an  adjoining 
room,  where  he  could  hear,  but  not  sec,  the  pris- 
oner. He  declared  without  hesitation  that  Schmidt's 
voice  was  much  rougher  than  that  of  the  person 
who  came  to  his  house  on  the  night  of  the  7th  Feb- 
iniary,  which  was  like  the  voice  of  a  woman. 

The  Avitnesses  who  were  examined  as  to  where 
the  prisoner  was  when  the  murder  took  place,  in 
great  part  removed  the  suspicion  which  He  had 
raised  against  himself  by  his  confused  and  contra- 
dictory statements.  His  mother-in-law,  Barbara 
Lang,  said  that  "  Schmidt,  with  his  wife  and  child, 
had  come  to  her  at  half-past  seven  in  the  morning, 
as  they  usually  did  when  he  had  no  chopping  to 
do,  in  order  to  save  fuel  and  candles.  They  stayed 
all  day,  and  at  half-past  nine  or  a  quarter  to  ten 
he  went  away  with  his  little  child  and  his  wife, 


THE    UNKNOWN    MURDERER.  113 

who  lighted  him  home.  The  latter  returned  and 
stayed  with  her  another  horn-  or  hour  and  a  lialf, 
making  pegs."  The  wife's  account  did  not  exactly 
tally  with  this  in  point  of  time,  as  she  said  that  they 
left  Barbara  Lang's  house  at  a  quarter  to  nine  ; 
but  in  other  respects  her  statement  agreed  with 
her  mother's,  with  the  further  addition  that 
"when  they  got  home  she  waited  while  her  hus- 
band undressed  and  went  to  bed  with  the  child,  as 
she  wanted  the  lantern  to  lisfht  her  to  her  mother's 
house  and  back  again  home.  When  she  returned, 
at  about  ten,  she  found  her  husband  asleep,  and 
woke  him,  as  he  took  up  too  much  room  in  the 
bed.  He  asked  what  o'clock  it  was,  and  she  told 
him  it  was  ten.  He  certainly  did  not  leave  her 
side  after  that."  She  added,  "  This  is  as  true  as 
that  my  poor  child  is  now  at  my  breast" — she  had 
brought  the  child  into  court  with  her.  The  woman 
in  whose  house  the  Schmidts  lodged  confirmed  this 
statement  in  every  particular. 

The  discrepancy  between  the  assertions  of  the 
several  witnesses  as  to  the  time  when  Schmidt  and 
his  wife  returned  to  tlysir  lodgings  is  easily  account- 
ed for,  when  we  consider  that  they  were  poor  peo- 
ple who  had  no  clocks  or  watches,  and  that  it  was 
in  the  imonth  of  February.  It  is  true  that  there 
was  an  intei-\'al  of  about  an  hour  between  the  time 
of  Schmidt's  cominsf  home  and  his  wife's  return. 
But  the  distance  fi-om  the  Hohes  Pilaster  to  the 
Hell  Tavern  is  above  a  mile,  and  a  murder  requires 
some  preparation.  Here,  however,  was  a  com- 
monplace good  sort  of  man,  who  passed  the  whole 
evening  with  his  old  mother-in-law,  employed  with 
his  wife  in  cutting  pegs  to  eani  a  crust  of  bread — 
returned  home  with  his  child  in  his  arms,  his  wife 
carrying  a  lantern,  and  went  to  bed  witli  his  child 
— whom  we  must  then  suppose  to  have  jumped 
out  of  bed  the  moment  his  wife's  back  was  turned, 
8  k2 


114  REMARKABLE    CRIMINAL    TRIALS. 

to  have  seized  an  axe,  and,  leaving  his  child,  to 
have  hastened  to  the  spot  vv^here  he  committed  a 
murder  remarkable  for  cunning  and  cnielty,  hur- 
ried back  into  bed,  where  he  was  found  shortly  af- 
terwards by  his  wife,  fast  asleep.  All  this,  too, 
without  any  one  in  the  house  hearing  any  noise, 
and  without  leaving  a  trace  of  the  murder  on  his 
person.  The  only  way  to  account  for  this  would 
be  to  suppose  the  wife  to  be  an  accomplice,  a  sup- 
position for  which  there  was  not  the  slightest  foun- 
dation. 

The  evidence  of  one  Anna  Keinitz,  an  old  wo- 
man of  seventy-eight,  proved  that  on  the  8lh  of 
February  Abraham  Schmidt  was  in  all  probability 
ignorant  of  the  murder  committed  on  the  previous 
evening.  Returning  from  market  she  passed  Rup- 
precht's  house,  where  she  heard  the  news.  On 
her  way  home  she  stepped  in  at  neighbor  Barbara 
Lang's  to  warm  herself,  and  found  Schmidt  and 
his  wife  were  cutting  pegs,  as  he  had  no  chopping 
to  do.  Anna  Keinitz  related  what  she  had  heard. 
Schmidt  asked  her  who  this  Rnpprecht  was  1  She 
answered  that  he  lived  nea:c  the  butchers'  stalls; 
and  the  mother-in  law  added,  "  It  is  Rnpprecht  who 
so  often  comes  to  the  tavern — do  not  you  know 
him  ]"     Schmidt  replied  carelessly,  "  I  do  not." 

On  the  9th  February,  Schmidt  was  at  a  tavern 
called  the  Sow,  where  several  guests  were  discuss- 
ing the  murder.  Schmidt  said  nothing,  and  showed 
no  emban-assment ;  his  manner  wae,  as  usual,  quiet 
and  reserved. 

The  evidence  of  the  two  men  who  by  turns 
watched  the  dying  man,  completely  overtlu-ew  one 
of  the  chief  causes  of  suspicion  agaiiLst  Schmidt. 
They  slated  that  when  the  maid  or  Rupprecht's 
daughter  asked  the  wounded  man  where  Schmidt 
lived,  he  answered  indifierently,  "  On  the  Hohes 
Pflaster,"  or  "  In  the  Walch." 


THE    UNKNOWN    MURDERER.  115 

Schmidt's  bad  repute,  owing  to  a  vague  recollec- 
tion of  some  former  transo^-ession  which  vulvar 
exaggeration  had  magnified  into  a  great  ci'ime, 
disappeared  on  further  inquiry.  All  who  were 
questioned  about  Abraham  Schmidt's  conduct — 
his  landlord,  his  neighbors,  and  the  superintendent 
of  police  of  the  district — described  him  as  a  very 
poor,  hard-working,  peaceable,  good-natured  man, 
and  a  good  husband  and  father. 

His  sti-ange  conduct  in  the  presence  of  the  dying 
man,  and  his  contradictory  statements,  were  thus 
accounted  for.  According  to  his  mother's  testimo- 
ny, he  was  hard  of  hearing,  timid,  and  awkward. 
The  smallest  trifle  made  him  lose  all  presence  of 
mind,  and  he  was  often  so  confused  as  to  say  the 
very  opposite  of  what  he  meant  about  things  the 
most  familiar  to  him.  "  I  believe,"  said  the  magis- 
trate of  his  district,  "  that  there  is  not  any  one  in 
my  whole  district  who  is  so  blundering.  For  in- 
stance, he  seldom  calls  any  one  by  his  right  name  ; 
and  when  he  does  not  understand  what  is  said  to 
Kim,  or  cannot  express  his  meaning,  he  is  apt  to 
be  angi'y."  And  this  poor  blockhead — he  knew 
not  why  or  wherefore — was  suddenly  dragged  into 
the  presence  of  a  dying  man,  whom  he  found  him- 
self accused  of  having  murdered,  and,  while  agi- 
tated and  dismayed  by  a  scene  so  strange,  solemn, 
and  terrible,  questions  were  put  to  him  about  the 
most  minute  and  trifling  circumstances — questions 
the  drift  of  which  he  was  too  stupid  and  confused 
to,  understand. 

The  contradictory  statements  which  he  made 
concerning  many  important  details,  were  manifestly 
the  result  of  the  prisoner's  habitual  confusion  of 
ideas  and  defective  memory.  His  recognition  of 
Rupprecht,  joined  to  his  declaration  that  he  did  not 
know  him,  would  have  appeared  perfectly  consist- 
ent had  he  possessed  the  power  of  expressing  him- 


116  REMARKABLE    CRIMINAL    TRIALS. 

self  intelligibly.  Without  having  ever  seen  Rixp- 
precht  he  must  have  guessed  that  the  wounded 
man  lying  before  him  could  have  been  none  other 
than  the  Rupprecht  whose  accident  was  in  every 
one's  mouth. 

Nothing  now  remained  which  could  throw  any 
suspicion  on  Abraham  Schmidt,  and  the  coui't  en- 
deavoi'ed  to  follow  out  the  slight  traces  of  suspicion 
against  John  Gabriel  Schmidt  and  his  half-brother 
Erhard  Diiringer.  The  former,  commonly  called 
big  Schmidt,  was  a  married  man  of  forty,  with  one 
child  ;  the  latter,  generally  known  as  little  Schmidt, 
was  twenty-seven,  also  married,  and  had  two  chil- 
dren. Both  were  woodcutters,  and  lived  together 
on  excellent  terms  in  the  same  house.  Both  were 
boon  comjjanions  of  Rupprecht's,  who  was  much  in 
their  company,  paiticularly  in  that  of  John  Gabriel, 
whom  he  familiarly  called  his  Hans,  and  with  whom 
he  amused  himself  with  all  sorts  of  vulgar  pranks  and 
coarse  jokes.  This  intercourse  had,  however,  been 
interrupted  a  few  months  before  Rupprecht's  death 
by  a  dispute  between  the  quarrelsome  jeweller  and 
the  overseers  of  the  district,  Fi'icdmann  and  Gotz. 
The  last-named  men  were  accordingly  aiTcsted 
on  the  suspicion  that  if  they  did  not  actually 
murder  him  themselves,  they  might  have  induced 
one  of  these  woodcutters  to  become  the  instrument 
of  their  vengeance.  The  quarrel  had  arisen  one 
evening  when  Friedmann,  the  two  Schmidts,  and 
several  other  persons  were  sitting  together  in  a  tav- 
ern, on  which  occasion  Rupprecht  used  some  very 
offensive  expressions  with  regard  to  the  other  over- 
seer Gotz,  accusing  him  of  gross  partiality  and  in- 
justice in  the  administration  of  his  office.  Fried- 
mann and  Gotz  complained  to  the  police,  and  the 
two  Schmidts  were  summoned  as  witnesses.  Rup- 
precht was  condemned  to  an  imprisonment  of 
eight  and  forty  hours  on  bread  and  water,  and  to 


THE    UNKNOWN    MURDERER.  117 

make  an  apology  to  Gutz.  He  endeavored  to  re- 
venge himself  by  bringing  an  action  for  defamation 
against  Friedmann  and  Gotz,  which  was  still  pend- 
ing when  Rupprecht  was  murdered. 

But  on  examination  these  suspicions  melted 
away,  and  Rupprecht  appeared  to  have  acted  the 
part  of  a  revengeful,  angiy,  insulting  foe,  and  the 
others  that  of  quiet,  peaceable  citizens.  No  one  had 
perceived  any  bitter  feeling  in  either  Friedmann 
or  Gotz ;  on  the  contrary,  they  both  expressed  regret 
and  indignation  when  they  heard  the  manner  of 
his  death.  Gotz  had  been  from  eight  till  eleven  on 
the  evening  of  the  murder  at  a  tavern,  where  his 
manner  was  grave  and  quiet  as  usual ;  and  both  he 
and  Friedmann  were  well  known  as  just  and  upright 
men,  incapable  of  committing  any  bad  action,  much 
less  a  crime  of  this  magnitude.  Finally,  Rup- 
precht himself,  when  asked  on  the  morning  after 
his  accident  whether  he  did  not  suspect  one  of  the 
district  overseers  of  the  deed,  had  distinctly  an- 
swered "  No." 

John  Gabriel  Schmidt  and  his  half-brother  Er- 
hard  Diiringer  had  the  reputation  of  well-con- 
ducted, hard-working  men,  of  spotless  integrity, 
who  only  visited  the  tavern  on  certain  days  in  the 
week,  and  then  only  for  a  few  hours.  Kunigunda 
Pfann  gave  evidence  on  oath  that  Erhard  Diiringer 
could  not  have  been  at  the  Hell  Tavern  on  the 
evening  of  the  7th  February,  as  she  had  stayed 
with  him  and  his  wife  from  half-past  eight  till  ten, 
and  had  only  left  their  room  as  they  were  prepar- 
ing to  go  to  bed.  This  evidence  was  confiiTned 
by  the  misti-ess  of  the  house  in  which  they  lived, 
who  inhabited  the  rooms  above  them.  She  stated 
that  although  she  had  not  been  in  Diiringer's  room 
she  was  satisfied  that  he  had  remained  at  home, 
as  Friday  was  not  the  day  on  which  he  and  his 
half-brother  went  to  the  tavern.     With  regard  to 


118  REMARKABLE    CRIMINAL    TRIALS. 

John  Gabriel  Schmidt  she  said, "  As  I  live  up  one 
pair  of  stairs,  and  he  just  above  mc,  and  I  hoard 
no  one  come  down-stairs  after  eight  o'clock,  and 
all  was  quiet  in  their  room,  I  feel  convinced  that 
after  that  hour  they  were  in  bed."  Besides, 
she  was  stirrins:  till  eleven,  and  even  later,  and 
she  heard  no  suspicious  knocking  or  rmging  at 
the  door.  Kunigunda  Pfann,  whose  room  was 
near  the  Schmidts',  said  that  as  she  was  return- 
ing home  at  about  half-past  eight,  she  looked  up 
at  their  ^vindow  and  saw  no  light ;  moreover  the 
key  had  been  taken  out  of  the  door,  as  was  their 
custom  when  they  went  to  bed ;  neither  had  she 
heard  any  noise  during  the  night.  Martin  Haas, 
the  landlord,  confirmed  these  statements,  adding, 
"  I  take  it  for  orranted  that  the  Schmidts  were  at 
home  on  Friday,  as  they  never  go  out  on  that  day." 

In  order  to  leave  nothing  untried,  two  other 
woodcutters,  whose  names  were  Schmidt,  were 
examined:  they  did  not  live  in  either  of  the  streets 
mentioned  by  Rupprecht,  nor  even  in  the  town, 
but  in  the  suburbs.  These  two  men,  John  and 
Godfrey,  were  nearly  connected,  and  generally 
came  to  Niirnberg  for  work  :  and  one  of  them  was 
usually  employed  by  Rupprecht's  son-in-law.  But 
in  this  case  also  the  inquiry  led  to  the  same  result. 

Thus,  when  every  woodcutter  of  the  name  of 
Schmidt  in  the  town  and  neighborhood  had  been 
examined,  it  became  evident  that  the  court,  by 
trusting  to  the  unconnected  words  of  the  dying 
man,  had  suffei'ed  itself  to  be  led  in  a  totally 
false  direction.  His  disjointed  exclamations  were 
but  the  expression  of  his  vague,  confused  suspi- 
cions, or  perhaps  even  mere  cegri  somnia,  engen- 
dered in  his  shattered  brain  by  delirium.  A  man 
so  severely  wounded  in  the  head  as  almost  entirely 
to  lose  the  power  of  speech  cannot  be  supposed 
to  be  in  the  true  possession  of  his  faculties  even 


THE    UNKNOWN    MURDERER.  119 

when  consciousness  appears  for  a  moment  to  return. 
It  is  not  difficult  to  explain  how  his  fancied  suspi- 
cions were  directed  ao^ainst  the  Schmidts,  when 
we  consider  that  so  deep  a  gash,  even  if  inflicted 
with  a  sabre,  would  feel  as  if  it  were  made  with 
an  axe.  The  mere  association  of  ideas  would 
naturally  connect  a  woodcutter  with  the  axe,  and 
every  throb  of  the  wound  would  recall  to  Rup- 
precht's  disordered  imagination  the  image  of  the 
Schmidts,  with  whom  he  had  lately  quarrelled. 

The  judge,  while  carrying  on  the  inquiry  with 
the  utmost  zeal  in  a  direction  which  eventually 
proved  to  be  a  wrong  one,  had  not  in  the  mean- 
time neglected  to  follow  up  all  other  indications. 
He  had  from  the  first  kept  his  eye  upon  John 
Bieringer  and  his  wife,  who  was  Rupprecht's  owti 
daus^hter. 

Rupprecht,  soon  after  he  was  wounded,  had 
exclaimed,  "My  daughter!  my  daughter!"  which 
those  who  were  present  had  interpreted  as  the 
expression  of  a  natural  desire  on  his  part  to  see 
her ;  but  which  might  have  referred  to  the  same 
event  as  the  words  he  used  shortly  before- — "  The 
wicked  rogue  !  with  the  axe  !"  This  supposition 
received  weight  from  the  circumstance  that  Rup- 
precht usually  called  his  son-in-law  "  the  wicked 
rogue." 

One  of  those  who  were  present  went,  after  fetch- 
ing a  surgeon,  to  Bieringer's  house  and  infonned 
him  of  what  had  happened,  and  of  Rupprecht's 
wish  to  see  his  daughter.  Hereupon  Bieringer, 
with  extraordinary  coolness,  said  to  his  wife, "  You 
must  go  to  the  Hell  Tavern  directly ;  something 
has  happened  to  your  father ;  one  really  has  no- 
thing but  trouble  with  him." 

When  Rupprecht's  daughter  saw  him  lying 
wounded,  she  wept  and  lamented :  but  several 
witnesses  thought  that  she  did  not  show  so  much 


120  REMARKABLE    CRIMINAL    TRIALS. 

interest  and  sympathy  for  him  as  might  have  been 
expected  from  a  daughter  on  such  au  occasion. 

One  witness  asserted  that  soon  after  she  had 
seen  her  father,  disfigured  as  he  was  with  blood 
and  wounds,  she  asked  for  his  keys,  and  said, 
"she  woukl  look  whether  they  were  in  his  pocket, 
or  whether  the  murdei'er  had  taken  them  to  open 
her  father's  lodo-ins:  and  rob  it."  As  soon  as  she 
recovered  his  keys,  she  went  on  before  to  his 
lodo^ing. 

The  same  witness  further  said,  "  When  her 
wounded  father  lay  in  his  owni  house,  the  daugh- 
ter appeared  not  only  composed,  but  eveii  careless. 
When  I  went  to  see  him  on  the  following  day,  I 
observed  that  she  showed  great  indifterence  to  her 
father's  fate ;  she  ate  iip,  in  my  presence,  a  whole 
basin  of  soup  which  would  have  more  than  satisfied 
most  people." 

Meanwhile  she  manifested  the  greatest  anxiety 
to  fix  susjsicion  on  Jolm  Gabriel  Schmidt,  and  on 
the  district  overseer  Gotz.  On  the  8th  February 
she  suddenly  exclaimed,  that  her  father  had  named 
Schmidt  as  the  murderer;  adding,  that  it  was  like- 
ly enough,  as  this  man  was  an  intimate  friend  of 
Gotz's,  who  had  been  involved  in  a  lawsuit  with 
her  fother.  This  she  repeated  so  often  and  so 
loudly,  that  the  officer  appointed  to  note  down 
every  expression  that  fell  from  the  dying  man, 
was  forced  to  order  her  to  be  silent. 

She  further  stated,  at  her  examination  on  the  9th 
February,  that  her  father,  on  coming  to  himself, 
had  accused  the  woodcutter  Schmidt  of  the  deed  ; 
and  added  that,  on  her  repeatedly  asking  who  had 
struck  him,  her  father  had  answered,  "  He  was  a 
big  fellow."  As  no  one  else  had  heard  Rupprecht 
say  this,  it  looked  as  if  she  had  invented  it  in  order 
to  avert  suspicion  from  her  husband,  who  was  of 
small  stature. 


THE    UNKNOWN    MURDERER.  121 

On  the  following  clay,  the  10th  February,  when 
the  three  woodcuttei's  of  the  name  of  Schmidt  were 
})rought  into  the  presence  of  the  wounded  man,  she 
pressed  the  judge,  when  it  came  to  John  Gabriel's 
turn,  to  allow  her  to  be  present,  and  to  speak  to 
him ;  saying,  "  This  John  Gabriel  Schmidt  was 
the  man  whom  she  alluded  to  in  her  yesterday's 
examination  ;  and  that  she  "wished  to  speak  to  him, 
and  to  remind  him  of  the  omniscience  of  God,  as 
he  might  then,  perhaps,  confess.  The  others,  she 
was  sure,  were  innocent. 

Bieringer,  a  well-bred  and  well  educated  man, 
of  about  five-and-thirty,  was  perfectly  composed 
and  unconstrained  during  examination  ;  only  once 
he  started  from  his  seat,  complained  of  illness, 
and  walked  up  and  down;  he  then  sat  down  again, 
and  quietly  continued  to  answer  the  questions  put 
to  him. 

The  principal  ground  for  suspicion  against  him 
was,  the  terms  on  which  he  lived  with  his  wife  and 
his  father-in-law. 

Bieringer's  domestic  quarrels  had  occasionally 
been  to  violent  as  to  draw  together  a  crowd  before 
his  house  ;  and  his  wife  had  once  been  sent  to  pri- 
son for  eight  and  forty  hours,  in  consequence  of  a 
complaint  laid  by  her  husband  before  the  police. 
Bieringer  accused  her  of  violence  of  temper  and 
love  of  finery ;  and  her  father  of  always  supporting 
her  against  her  husband.  The  imprisonment,  it  is 
true,  had  produced  a  wholesome  effect,  and  Bier- 
inger's domestic  peace  had  remained  unbroken  for 
some  time.  But  the  quaiTel  between  Rupprecht 
end  his  son-in-law  was  iiTeconcilable.  Rupprecht 
would  not  see  him  ;  and  on  the  very  day  before 
his  death  he  had  said  to  his  maid,  "  Bieringer  is  a 
cursed  rogue,  who  shall  never  come  into  my  pres- 
ence." Rupprecht  thought  him  a  careless  fellow, 
who  worked  less  and  spent  more  than  he  ought ; 

L 


122  REMARKABLE    CRIMINAL    TRIALS. 

and  who,  moreover,  did  not  show  him  sufficient 
resjiect.  He  had  long  intended  to  make  a  will 
leaving  liis  whole  property  to  his  daughter,  and 
placing  it  entirely  out  of  the  reach  of  her  husband. 
He  had  mentioned  this  plan  to  his  daughter  some 
months  before.  He  had  also  told  his  fellow-lodger 
Hogner,  who  was  more  in  his  confidence  than  any 
one  else,  that  "  he  would  make  a  will,  in  which  he 
would  not  forget  his  good  friends,  and  would  settle 
his  money  in  such  manner  u})on  his  daughter  that 
his  rascally  son-in-law  should  not  be  able  to  touch 
it,  so  that  his  daughter  might  have  something  to 
live  upon  in  case  of  a  separation.  On  Friday  the 
7th  February,  at  about  3  p.m.,  only  a  few  hours 
before  he  was  murdered,  he  sent  to  his  familiar 
friend  Hogner,  and  requested  him  to  "  look  out 
from  among  his  papers  some  acknowledgments  of 
debts,  amounting  to  1200  florins,  as  he  must  take 
them  directly  to  the  magistrate's  office.  The 
search  took  up  some  time,  as  his  papers  v/ere  in 
disorder,  and  he  i"equested  me  to  come  on  the  fol- 
lowing Sunday,  and  sort  them  for  him,  as  he  wished 
to  alter  and  anange  several  matters,  and  to  make 
a  will.  His  maid  was  in  the  room  at  the  time." 
Had  Bieringer  been  aware  of  this,  he  would  un- 
doubte41y  have  had  the  greatest  interest  in  pre- 
venting Rupprecht  from  executing  his  intentions  ; 
and  the  circumstance  that  Rupprecht  was  mur- 
dered at  ten  o'clock  at  night  of  the  same  day  on 
which  he  had  talked  about  making  his  will,  would 
no  longer  appear  merely  as  a  strange  coincidence. 
But  here  again  everything  which  at  fii'st  ap- 
peared suspicious  was  explained  away. 

The  hostess  of  the  tavern  proved  that  Rup- 
precht's  words,  "  My  daughter,  my  daughter,"  un- 
doubtedly expressed  his  desire  to  see  her.  She 
stated  that  on  seeing  his  dangerous  condition,  she 
cried  out  "  Fetch  his  daughter,"  whereupon  Rup- 


THE    UNKNOWN    MURDERER.  ]  23 

precht  repeated  the  words  "  My  daughter."  Fur- 
thermore his  sister  Clara  and  his  famihar  fiiend 
Hogner  testified  that  was  Rupprecht's  custom 
to  send  for  his  daughter  every  time  he  had  even  a 
pain  in  his  finger. 

This  habit  again  accounted  for  Bieringer's  cool 
impatience  when  he  told  his  wife  to  go  to  her 
father :  he  very  naturally  thought  that  matters  were 
not  so  bad  as  they  afterwards  turned  out. 

The  small  sympathy  which  the  daughter  appar- 
ently felt  with  the  fate  of  her  father  proves  but 
little ;  not  to  mention  that  several  other  Avitnesses 
who  had  ample  oppoitunity  of  observing  her  con- 
duct stated  the  very  reverse,  and  asserted  that  she 
showed  oT.'eat  feclino:. 

The  taking  possession  of  her  father's  keys  was 
no  more  than  what  any  other  daughter  would  have 
done  under  the  circumstances.  They  were  es- 
sential to  prepare  for  his  reception  in  his  own 
house.  Moreover  it  afterwards  appeared  that  she 
only  took  the  keys  at  the  suggestion  of  the  physi- 
cian, who  suspected  that  some  one  might  attempt 
to  rob  the  house,  in  consequence  of  which  suspicion, 
and  at  her  request,  two  police  officers  accompanied 
her  to  her  father's  house. 

Her  loud  and  eager  announcement  that  her 
father  had  named  the  woodcutter  Schmidt  as  his 
murderer,  and  her  endeavors  to  fix  the  guilt  on 
the  so-called  big  Schmidt,  would  certainly  have 
been  suspicious,  had  not  old  Rupprecht  really 
named  him.  But  her  anxiety  to  force  the  man 
whom  her  imagination  represented  to  her  as  the 
only  possible  murderer  to  confess  his  guilt,  cannot 
surely  be  construed  as  evidence  of  her  participa- 
tion in  the  murder.  Nor  need  we  conclude  that 
she  put  expressions  into  her  father's  mouth  about 
the  murderer  being  a  tall  fellow  in  order  to  shield 
her  husband;  it  is  veiy  possible  that  her  father 


124  REMARKABLE    CRIMINAL    TRIALS. 

may  have  used  them  during  the  absence  of  other 
witnesses. 

It  is  quite  obvious  that  it  was  not  her  interest, 
while  living  on  bad  terms  with  her  husband,  to  get 
rid  of  her  father,  who  hated  his  son-in-law,  and 
was  her  constant  refuge  and  support  against  him, 
at  the  very  moment,  too,  when  she  knew  that  her 
father  was  about  to  make  a  will  which  should 
secure  her  indej)endence  of  her  husband.  Rup- 
precht's  dying  intestate  was  as  great  a  loss  to  his 
daughter  as  it  was  a  gain  to  his  son-in-law. 

On  further  examination,  everything  was  cleared 
up  in  Bieringer's  favor  also. 

Bieringer's  comparatively  polished  manners 
rendered  him  most  unsuitable  to  his  coarse  father- 
in-law,  whose  avarice  and  meanness  were  shocked 
by  his  son-in-law's  more  generous  manner  of  living. 
Bieringer  was  considered  by  his  fellow-citizens  as 
a  well-conducted  and  upright  man,  who  loved 
society,  without  neglecting  his  business,  and  was 
not  addicted  to  drinking  or  gaming.  The  chief 
cause  of  dissension  between  him  and  his  wife  was 
rather  her  love  of  dress  and  quan-elsome  disposition 
than  any  fault  of  his.  All  who  were  acquainted 
with  him  said  that  they  knew  of  no  stain  upon  his 
honor  or  good  name. 

Even  if  Rupprecht's  intention  to  deprive  Bier- 
inger of  all  power  over  his  daughter's  fortune 
appeared  a  sufficient  motive  for  the  murder  of  his 
father-in-law,  it  remained  to  be  pi'oved  that  Bier- 
inger was  aware  of  the  pi'ojcct.  But  on  examination 
it  appeared  the  old  man  confided  his  thoughts  to 
none  but  his  friend  and  his  daughter,  who  cer- 
tainly could  have  no  interest  in  betraying  the 
secret  to  her  husband.  Neither  his  brother  nor 
his  sisters  knew  anything  whatever  of  the  matter. 
It  is  true  that  on  the  day  he  was  murdered  his 
maid  was  present  when  he  talked  of  making  hia 


THE    UNKNOWN    MURDERER.  125 

will,   but  he  mentioned  it  quite  vaguely  without 
entering  into  any  particulars. 

It  was  proved  beyond  doubt  that  Bieringer 
could  not  have  committed  the  murder  himself.  On 
the  evening  of  the  7th  February  he  was  at  a 
tavern  called  the  Golden  Fish,  distant  full  ten 
minutes'  walk  from  that  frequented  by  Rupprecht. 
He  was  dressed  as  usual,  and  carried  no  weapon, 
not  even  a  stick.  Here  he  remained  till  a  quarter 
past  ten  o'clock  at  night,  and  at  half-past  ten  he 
came  home  and  took  off  his  clothes.  He  was 
found  undressed  by  the  man  who  went  to  his  house 
in  order  to  fetch  his  wife  to  her  father.  It  was 
therefore  impossible  that  he  could  have  stayed  at 
the  Golden  Fish  until  a  quarter  past  ten  o'clock, 
have  murdered  his  father-in-law  at  a  tavern  some 
distance  off,  and  be  back  in  his  own  house,  which 
was  distant  at  least  a  mile  from  the  scene  of  the 
murder,  by  half-past  ten. 

At  the  commencement  of  the  inquiry  the  judge 
had  endeavored  to  discover  with  whom  Rupprecht 
had  dealings,  and  more  especially  who  had  been 
with  him  on  the  7th  Februai'y.  The  evidence 
given  by  Rupprecht's  maid  seemed  important.  She 
stated  that  among  others  three  trumpeters  belonging 
to  the  regiment  quartered  in  the  town  had  been 
with  Rupprecht  on  business  on  the  very  day  of 
the  murder,  and  had  been  told  by  him  to  call 
again  on  the  following  day  :  they  did  not  return, 
having  probably  heard  what  had  occurred.  These 
three  men  were  immediately  aiTested  and  ex- 
amined. Although  their  depositions  agreed  on 
every  point,  and  each  one  separately  stated  where 
they  had  been  at  the  time  of  the  murder,  it  never- 
theless appeared  as  if  one  of  these  three  trumpeters 
must  be  the  murderer.  One  of  them  owed  Rup- 
precht money,  which  he  had  no  means  of  paying, 
and   his  two  comrades  had  accompanied  him  to 

l2 


126  REMARKABLE    CRIMINAL    TRIALS, 

Rupprecht's  house,  nobody  exactly  knew  why.  On 
the  same  evening  Rupprecht  received  a  deadly 
blow,  and  the  wound  presented  the  appearance  of 
a  sabi-e-cut  inflicted  by  a  practised  hand. 

But  this  was  "  like  the  lightning,  which  doth 
cease  to  be  ere  you  can  say  it  lightens."  Alibis 
were  most  cleaily  proved  :  two  of  them  had  been 
at  their  barracks,  and  the  third  had  been  sitting 
from  eight  till  eleven  in  some  taveni,  whence  he 
went  straight  to  the  hospital. 

One  means  of  detection,  however,  seems  to  have 
been  forgotten.  The  physicians  stated  that  the 
wound  was  to  all  appearance  inflicted  by  a  sabre, 
and  it  is  probable  that  some  discovez-y  might  have 
been  made,  had  the  arms  of  the  ganison,  and  of 
the  burgher  guard,  been  examined  on  the  morning 
after  the  murder.  But  when  the  court  began  the 
inquiry,  it  was  already  too  late  to  hope  for  any 
results,  even  had  this  suggestion,  made  by  the 
judge,  been  attended  to.  His  colleagues  were  so 
completely  possessed  by  the  idea  that  the  mur- 
derous blow  had  been  inflicted  by  an  axe  wielded 
by  a  woodcutter,  that  they  negatived  a  pj-oposal 
founded  on  a  supposition  that  Rupprecht  had  been 
killed  by  a  sabre-cut. 

Meanwhile  two  men,  whose  names  were  un- 
known, became  the  subject  of  inquiry.  On  the 
day  after  the  murder,  Rupprecht's  confidant  and 
fellow-lodger,  Hogner,  laid  information  before  the 
court  as  follows :  "  At  about  half-past  five  in  the 
afternoon  of  the  fatal  Friday,  Rupprecht  came  to 
me  and  requested  me  to  allow  his  maid  to  spend 
the  evening  in  my  rooms,  as  two  gentlemen  were 
coming  to  him,  with  whom  he  wished  to  be  alone. 
The  maid  came  and  stayed  about  an  hour  and  a 
half,  when  Rupprecht  retimied  and  gave  her  the 
key  of  his  rooms,  saying  that  he  was  going  to  the 
tavern."     The    maid    confirmed    this   statement, 


THE  UNKNOWN  MURDERER.       127 

aJdinc:  that  as  she  went  down  stairs  to  fetch  her 
supper  she  had  seen  through  the  window  which 
looks  from  the  kitclien  into  Rupprecht's  room  two 
young  men,  who  were  busied  with  something  on 
the  table.  But  this  mysterious  affair  was  soon 
cleared  up :  the  two  gentlemen  were  the  regi- 
mental tailor  and  a  shoemaker,  the  former  of  whom 
borrowed  of  Rupprecht  the  sum  of  600  florins  for 
three  months,  giving  a  bill  for  650  florins,  and 
leaving  a  large  quantity  of  cloth  as  a  pledge  in 
Rupprecht's  hands.  His  friend  the  shoemaker 
merely  acted  as  a  witness  in  the  transaction. 

Several  other  men  were  arrested  on  divers  sus- 
picions, but  all  brought  forward  witnesses  who 
completely  disculjjated  them.  The  court  was 
therefore  forced  to  rest  content  after  releasing 
Abraham  Schmidt  from  his  provisory  arrest,  and  to 
close  the  proceedings  until  fresh  suspicions  should 
arise. 

Ten  years,  writes  Feuei'bach  in  1828,  have 
since  passed,  and  the  manner  of  Rupprecht's  death 
is  still  involved  in  mystery. 

Most  likely  the  old  userer  was  murdered  out  of 
revenge  or  hatred  by  some  disappointed  suitor  for 
a  loan,  or  by  a  debtor  who  thought  this  the  easiest 
way  of  paying  his  debt,  and  whose  name  was 
never  known  owing  to  Rupprecht's  habit  of  keep- 
ing no  regular  accounts  and  trusting  chiefly  to  his 
memory.  Not  one  even  of  his  nearest  relations 
knew  the  exact  state  of  the  old  man's  affairs  ;  even 
Hogner  was  only  admitted  to  his  confidence  in 
cases  of  absolute  necessity,  when  he  wanted  to 
have  a  note  of  hand  looked  out  from  among  his 
papers,  or  to  get  them  put  in  order.  Thus  proba- 
bly the  only  clue  to  the  discovery  of  Rupprecht's 
murderer  was  buried  with  him. 


ANNA    MARIA    ZWANZIGER, 

THE  GERMAN  BRINVILLIERS. 


In  the  year  1807  a  widow,  nearly  fifty  years  of 
age,  calling  herself  Nanette  Schiinleben,  lived  at 
Pegnltz  in  the  territory  of  Baireuth,  supporting 
herself  by  knitting.  Her  conduct  gained  her  a 
reputation  which  induced  Justice  Wolfgang  Gla- 
ser,  who  was  then  living  at  Rosendorf  separated 
from  his  wife,  to  take  her  as  his  housekeeper,  on 
the  5th  March,  1808.  On  the  22d  of  the  follow- 
ing July,  Glaser  was  reconciled  to  his  wife,  who 
had  been  living  with  her  relations  at  Grieshaber 
near  Augsburg.  Soon  after  her  return  to  her  hus- 
band's house,  though  a  strong  healthy  woman,  she 
was  suddenly  seized  with  violent  vomiting,  diar- 
rhoea, &c.,  and  on  the  2Gth  August,  a  month  after 
the  reconciliation,  she  died. 

Anna  Schonleben  now  left  Glaser's  sei-vice,  and 
on  the  25th  September  she  went  to  live  as  house- 
keeper with  Justice  Grohmann  at  Sanspareil. 
Her  new  master,  who  was  unmarried,  was  thirty- 
eight  years  of  age,  and  though  a  large  and  power- 
ful man,  had  suffered  from  gout  for  several  years, 
and  was  often  confined  to  his  bed.  On  these  oc- 
casions Anna  Schonleben  always  nursed  him  with 
the  utmost  care  In  the  spring  of  1809  ho  was 
seized  with  an  illness  more  violent  than  any  he 
had  had  before,  and  accompanied  by  entirely  new 
symptoms,  violent  vomiting,  pains  in  the  stomach, 
dian'hoea,  heat  and  dryness  of  the  skin,  inflammation 
of  the  mouth  and  throat,  insatiable  thirst,  and  ex- 


ANNA    MARIA    ZWANZIGER.  129 

cessive  weakness  and  pains  in  the  limbs.  He 
died  on  the  Sth  May,  after  an  illness  of  eleven 
days,  and  his  housekeeper  appeared  inconsolable 
for  his  loss.  Every  one,  the  medical  men  included, 
took  it  for  granted  that  Grohmann,  who  had  long 
been  aihng,  had  died  a  natural  death. 

Anna  Schonlebeu  was  once  more  out  of  place, 
but  her  reputation  for  kindness,  activity,  attention 
and  skill  as  a  sick-nuise  soon  pi-ocured  her  a  new 
home.  At  the  time  of  Grohraann's  death  the  wife 
of  the  magistrate  Gebhard  was  just  expecting  to 
be  brought  to  bed,  and  asked  Anna  Schonleben 
to  attend  her  as  nurse  and  housekeeper  during 
her  lying-in.  Anna  Schonleben,  always  willing  to 
oblige,  readily  agi-eed,  and  from  the  day  of  the 
conhnement  she  resided  in  Gebhard's  house,  di- 
viding her  time  between  the  care  of  the  household 
and  of  the  child.  Madame  Gebhard  was  confined 
on  the  13th  May,  1S09,  and  both  the  mother  and 
the  child  were  doing  very  well  until  the  third  day, 
when  the  mother  fell  ill.  Her  illness  became 
more  alarming  every  day ;  she  was  seized  with 
violent  vomiting,  nervous  agitation,  distressing 
heat  in  the  intestines,  inflammation  in  the  throat, 
&c. ;  and  on  the  20th  May,  seven  days  after  her 
confinemeiit,  she  died,  exclaiming  in  her  agony, 
"  Merciful  Heaven  !  you  have  given  me  poison  !" 
As  Madame  Gebhard  had  always  been  sickly,  and 
moreover  had  died  in  childbirth,  her  death  excited 
no  suspicion,  and,  like  Madame  Glaser  and  Groh- 
mann, she  was  buried  ^vithout  more  ado.  The 
widower,  embarrassed  by  his  household  and  the  in- 
fant which  was  left  upon  his  bauds,  thought  that 
he  could  do  nothing  better  than  to  keep  Anna 
iSchonleben  as  his  housekeej^er.  Several  persons 
endeavored  to  change  his  i-esolution.  They  said 
that  this  woman  carried  death  with  her  wherever 
she  went ;  that  three  young  persons  whom  she  had 

9 


130  REMARKABLE    CRIMINAL    TRIALS. 

eerveJ,  bad  died  one  after  the  otlicr  within  a  very 
shoit  time.  No  one  made  the  smallest  accusation 
against  her :  their  warnings  arose  from  a  mere 
superstitious  dread  of  an  unfortunate  sympathetic 
iuHuence  exercised  by  her  upon  those  with  whom 
she  lived  :  her  obliging  deportment,  her  piety,  and 
herair  of  honesty,  humility,  and  kindness,  protected 
her  from  every  breath  of  suspicion.  Thus  she  re- 
mained for  several  months  in  Gebhard's  service 
unsuspected  and  imaccused. 

During  her  residence  in  Gebhard's  house,  vari- 
ous suspicious  events  occurred,  without,  however, 
exciting  attention.  On  the  25th  August,  1809,  a 
certain  Beck,  and  the  widow  Alberti,  dined  with 
Gebhard.  Soon  after  dinner  they  were  both  seiz- 
ed with  violent  vomiting,  colic,  spasms,  &c.,  which 
lasted  until  late  at  ni"-ht.  About  the  same  time 
she  gave  the  messenger  Rosenhauer  a  glass  of 
white  wine,  and  not  long  after  he  had  swallowed  it 
he  was  attacked  in  precisely  the  same  manner,  and 
was  BO  ill  as  to  be  forced  to  go  to  bed.  On  the 
very  same  day  she  took  Rosenhauer's  porter,  a  lad 
of  nineteen,  named  Johann  Kraus,  into  the  cellar, 
and  gave  him  a  glass  of  brandy.  After  drinking  a 
small  quantity  he  perceived  a  sort  of  white  sedi- 
ment in  it,  and  therefore  left  the  rest,  but  in  a  short 
time  he  felt  very  sick.  During  the  last  week  of 
August,  one  of  Gebhard's  maid-servants,  Barbara 
Waldmann,  with  whom  Anna  Schonleben  had  had 
several  trifling  dispvites,  was  taken  ill  after  drink- 
ing a  cup  of  coffee,  and  vomited  every  half-hour 
during  the  whole  day.  The  most  remarkable  oc- 
currence, however,  took  place  on  the  1st  Septem- 
ber. Gebhard,  while  playing  at  skittles  with  a 
party  of  his  fiiends,  sent  for  a  few  pitchers  of  beer 
from  his  own  cellar.  He  and  five  other  persons 
drank  some  of  the  beer,  and  were  seized  soon 
after  with  sickness  and  internal  pains;  some  of 


ANNA    MAUIA    ZWANZIGER.  131 

the  party,  among  whom  was  Gebhard,  were  so  ill 
as  to  require  inedical  aid. 

This  first  inspired  distrust  and  dislike  of  Anna 
Schonleben.  On  the  following  day,  chiefly  at  the 
instigation  of  one  of  his  fellow-sufferers  at  the 
skittleground,  Gebhard  dismissed  her  fi-om  his 
service,  but  gave  her  a  written  character  for  hon- 
esty and  fidelity. 

She  was  to  leave  Sanspareil  for  Baireuth  on  the 
next  day  —  3rd  September.  She  expressed  her 
surprise  at  so  sudden  a  dismissal,  but  was  civil 
and  obliging  as  usual,  and  busied  herself  during 
the  whole  evening  in  various  domestic  arrange- 
ments. Among  other  thino-s  she  took  the  salt-box 
out  of  the  kitchen  (which  was  no  part  of  her  usual 
duty),  and  filled  it  from  a  barrel  of  salt  which  stood 
in  Gebhard's  bed-room.  Wlien  the  maid-servant 
Waldmann  commented  upon  this,  Anna  Schon- 
leben said,  in  a  jesting  manner,  that  she  must  do 
so,  for  that  if  those  who  were  going  away  filled 
the  salt-box,  the  other  servants  would  keep  their 
places  the  longer.  On  the  morning  of  her  depar- 
ture she  affected  the  greatest  friendship  for  the 
two  maid-servants,  Hazin  and  Waldmann,  and 
gave  each  of  them  a  cup  of  coffee  sweetened  with 
sugar  which  she  took  out  of  a  piece  of  paper. 
While  the  caiTiage  was  waiting  for  her  at  the 
door  she  took  Gebhard's  child,  an  infant  five 
months  old,  in  her  arms,  gave  it  a  biscuit  soaked 
in  milk  to  eat,  then  let  it  drink  the  milk,  and  fin- 
ally parted  from  it  with  the  inost  tender  caresses, 
and  got  into  the  carriage  which  was  to  convey  her 
to  Baireuth,  and  which  Gebhard  paid  for,  besides 
giving  her  a  crown  dollar  and  some  chocolate. 

She  had  been  gone  scarce  half  an  hour  when 
the  child  became  alarmingly  ill  and  vomited  terri- 
bly, and  in  a  few  hours  more  the  two  maid-ser- 
vants were   attacked  in  the  same  manner;    and 


132  REMARKABLE    CRIMINAL    TRIALS. 

now,  for  the  first  time,  suspicion  was  excited.  On 
hearing  from  his  servants  how  Anna  Schonleben 
had  busied  herself,  Gebhard  had  the  contents  of 
the  kitchen  salt-box  analysed  by  a  chemist,  and  a 
large  quantity  of  arsenic  was  found  among  it.  The 
salt-barrel  was  likewise  found  at  the  trial  to  con- 
tain thirty  grains  of  arsenic  to  every  three  pounds 
of  salt. 

To  these  facts  were  now  added  a  number  of 
hitherto  unnoticed  reports  of  persons  who  had 
been  taken  ill  immediately  after  eating  or  drinking 
at  Glaser's  and  Grohmann's  houses,  whilst  Anna 
Schonleben  was  in  their  service.  Moreover  it 
came  out  that  Schonleben  was  only  her  maiden 
name,  and  that  she  was  in  fact  the  widow  of  a 
notary  called  Zwanziger,  who  had  lived  at  Num- 
ber"-. 

It  is  strange  that  after  all  these  discoveries  it 
was  not  till  the  29th  September  that  Gebhard 
laid  information  against  her  at  the  criminal  court 
of  Baireuth,  which  immediately  apjiointed  chief 
magistrate  Brater  to  conduct  the  inquiry.  He 
went  at  once  to  the  spot,  where  the  charges 
against  her  of  various  cases  of  poisoning  were 
confirmed,  and  increased  in  number. 

The  most  important  point  was  to  discover  the 
causes  of  the  sudden  and  unexpected  deaths  of 
those  three  persons  whom  Anna  Schonleben  had 
served  in  succession  since  1808.  The  body  of 
Madame  Glaser  Avas  dug  iqi  on  the  23d  October, 
in  the  churchyard  at  Rasendorf.  It  presented  in 
a  very  remarkable  manner  all  those  appearances 
which  the  discoveries  of  modern  science  have 
tauglit  lis  to  regard  as  the  peculiar  sym]:)toms  of 
death  from  arsenic.  Although  the  body  liad  been 
buried  for  fourteen  months,  it  was  very  little  de- 
composed, dried  up  and  hardened  like  a  mummy, 
and  the  skin  was  the  color  of  mahogany.     Tlio 


ANNA    MARIA    ZWANZIGER.  133 

abdomen  was  rather  swollen  and  gave  a  peculiar 
hollow  sound  when  struck.  The  coats  and  muscles 
of  the  stomach  were  converted  into  a  substance 
resembling  cheese  in  appearance  and  smell,  and 
the  whole  body  emittecl  the  same  peculiar  odor. 
On  the  following  day  the  body  of  Madame  Geb- 
hard  and  that  of  Grohmann,  which  had  lain  in  the 
earth  for  nearly  'six  months,  were  disinterred  in 
the  churchyard  at  Wonsers,  and  presented  exactly 
the  same  appearances  as  that  of  Glaser's  wife. 
On  investigation  the  intestines  of  the  two  female 
corpses  were  found  to  contain  arsenic.  In  those 
of  Grohmann  the  presence  of  the  poison  was  not 
discovered,  although  his  body  exhibited  every 
symptom  of  it. 

Meanwhile,  Anna  Schonleben,  or,  as  we  will 
henceforth  call  her,  Zwanziger,  felt  perfectly  se- 
cure. On  quittmg  Gebhard's  service  she  had  left 
a  letter  for  him  in  which  she  I'eproached  him  with 
exaggerated  sensibility  for  the  ingratitude  with 
which  he  had  repaid  her  care  of  him,  and  her  de- 
votion to  his  child.  "  If,"  says  she,  "  the  child 
should  be  restless  and  unhappy,  my  guardian 
angel  will  say  to  you,  '  Why  didst  thou  take  from 
her  that  which  she  held  most  dear?'  If,  six  weeks 
hence,  you  should  ask  for  me,  you  will  hear,  '  She 
is  no  more,'  and  then  woe  to  your  heart,  f<jr  it  will 
break  ;  woe  to  those  who  have  calumniated  me  to 
you."  She  then  jirays  God  to  reward  him  for  his 
kindness,  begs  him  to  continue  his  friendship  to 
her,  and  promises  to  write  to  him  every  fortnight. 
This  promise  she  faithfully  kept ;  and  both  from 
Baireuth,  where  she  actually  quartered  herself  for 
a  month  upon  the  mother  of  Gebhard's  dead  wife, 
and  afterwards  from  Niirnberg,  she  sent  him  seve- 
ral letters,  in  which  she  tells  him  the  state  of  her 
health,  how  well  she  was  received,  and  how  soon 
she  hoped  to  get  a  place,  and  then  recommends 

M 


134  REMARKABLE    CRIMINAL    TRIALS. 

herself  to  the  "  kind  recollection  of  her  revered 
master;"  or  talks  about  "her  darling  child,"  sends 
it  kisses,  and  asks  after  its  health.  It  is  clear  that 
she  hoped  no  less  than  to  be  recalled  by  Gebhard, 
and  that  the  true  purpose  of  her  letters  was  to  put 
this  into  his  head  by  every  means  in  her  power  as 
frequently  as  possible.  She  was  equally  lavish  of 
her  letters  to  several  other  persons.  Among  others 
she  wrote  to  Glaser  and  offered  him  her  services 
again  as  housekeeper.  After  waiting  in  vain  both 
at  Bairouth  and  at  Niirnberg  for  a  recall,  she  went 
to  Mainbernheim  in  Franconia,  where  she  hoped 
to  be  received  by  her  son-in-law,  a  bookbinder 
called  Sauer.  But  he  had  meanwhile  divorced 
her  daughter,  who  was  in  the  house  of  coiTection 
for  stealing  and  swindling,  and  was  celebrating  his 
second  marriage  on  the  very  day  on  which  his 
former  mother-in-law  arrived  at  his  house.  This 
disagreeable  coincidence  soon  caused  her  to  leave 
Mainbernheim,  and  retiu-n  to  Niirnberg,  where  she 
was  immediately  airested  on  the  ISth  October,  1809. 
On  searching  her  person  two  packets  of  tartar 
emetic  and  one  of  arsenic  were  found  in  her  pocket. 
We  will  postpone  for  the  present  the  history  of 
her  life,  which  came  out  on  her  examination  at 
Cuhnbach  and  at  Niirnberg,  though  only  piece- 
lueal  and  in  very  general  terms.  Neither  would 
it  answer  our  purpose  to  follow  the  long  course  of 
examination,  as  it  would  be  impossible  to  describe 
the  cunning  and  adroitness  with  which  the  crimi- 
nal contrived  to  evade  all  questions  and  remon- 
strances, or  the  patience,  prudence,  and  skill  with 
which  the  judge  enclosed  her  within  narrow  and 
narrower  circles,  until  she  was  no  longer  able  to 
resist  the  truth.  From  the  19th  October,  1809,  till 
the  16th  April,  1810,  she  resolutely  denied  every 
accusation  connected  with  the  charge  of  poisoning. 
On  the  last-named  day  she  appeared  before  her 


ANNA    MARIA    ZVVANZIGER.  135 

judge  with  perfect  composure,  believing  that  all 
the  evidence  against  her  was  exhausted,  when  he 
opened  the  proceedings  with  the  unexpected  an- 
nouncement that  the  body  of  Glaser's  wife  had 
been  dug  up ;  that  upon  minute  investigation  she 
was  found  to  have  been  poisoned  with  arsenic,  and 
that  there  was  the  strongest  gi'ound  for  suspicion 
that  the  poison  had  been  administered  by  the  pris- 
oner. After  the  judge  had  represented  this  to  her 
in  various  forms  during  two  whole  hours,  her 
courage  at  length  gave  way.  She  wept,  wrung 
her  hands,  protested  her  innocence,  and  endeavored 
to  mislead  the  judge  in  broken  and  unconnected 
sentences  which  she  uttered  with  great  rapidity 
and  in  evident  terror,  and  at  length  confessed  that 
she  had  twice  given  poison  to  Glaser's  wife,  at  the 
same  time  interweaving  with  her  confession  an 
atrocious  calumny.  The  woids  had  scarcely  pass- 
ed her  lips  when  she  fell  as  if  struck  by  lightning, 
rolled  upon  the  floor  in  sti'ong  convulsions,  and 
had  to  be  carried  out  of  court. 

The  poisonings  which  Anna  Zwanziger  partly 
confessed  and  partly  was  proved  to  have  commit- 
ted, were  as  follows  : — 

Justice  Glaser,  a  man  upwards  of  fifty,  had  lived 
for  several  years  separate  from  his  wife,  fi-om  no 
fault  of  his  own,  when,  on  the  25th  March,  1808, 
he  took  Anna  Zwanziger  into  his  service,  at  the 
recommendation  of  his  son.  She  soon  contrived 
to  ingi'atiate  herself  with  her  master,  and  to  place 
herself  upon  a  footing  almost  of  equality  with  him. 
She  had  not  been  long  in  his  sei-vice  before  she 
began  to  be  very  officious  in  endeavoring  to  effect 
a  reconciliation  between  him  and  his  vdfe,  partly, 
indeed,  without  Glaser's  knowledge  or  consent. 
Not  satisfied  with  using  all  her  powers  of  persua- 
sion to  induce  Glaser  to  take  back  his  wife,  she 
opened  a  secret  correspondence  with  the  latter, 


13G  REMAR    ABLE    CRIMINAL    TRIALS. 

who  was  living  with  her  brother  at  Grieshaber, 
wrote  to  several  tnenfls  of  the  fainily  in  order  to 
induce  them  to  assist  in  the  Avork  of  reconciliation, 
among  others  to  the  neighboring  Catholic  priest  at 
Holfekl,  enclosing  a  piece  of  money,  with  the  re- 
quest, Protestant  as  she  was,  that  a  mass  might  be 
read  for  the  success  of  her  undertaking. 

She  at  length  succeeded  in  jiersuading  the  wife 
to  return,  and  the  husband  to  receive  her.  Mad- 
ame Glascr  left  Griesliaber,  and  a  few  days  before 
her  arrival  in  Kasendorf,  she  wrote  to  one  of  her 
relations  to  announce  that  on  the  followinsf  Wed- 
nesday  a  formal  reconciliation  would  take  place 
between  her  husband  and  herself. 

On  the  22d  July,  1808,  Glaser  went  to    meet 

his  wife  at  Holfeld,  and  on  returaing  with  her  to 

Kasendorf,   he  was   met  by  a  brilliant  reception 

which  had  been  prepared  by  Anna  Zwanziger  to 

celebrate  the  reconciliation.     All  Kasendorf  was 

in  commotion  :  the  floors  of  the  house  were  strewed 

with  flowers,  and  the  doorposts  and  walls  hung 

with  garlands ;  the  bed  was  decorated  with  wreaths, 

and  on  it  was  pinned  an  ornamental  sheet  of  paper 

with  the  words — 

The  widow's  hand 
Hath  joined  this  band. 

The  poetry  and  the  writing  were  Anna  Zwanziger's. 

The  real  motive  for  her  uncalled-for  interference 
in  this  aftair  is  obvious.  In  spite  of  her  age  and 
ugliness,  she  ex2)ected  no  less  than  that  Glaser 
would  marry  her  in  the  event  of  his  wife's  death, 
and  she  herself  confessed  that  she  hoped  by  this 
murder  to  secure  a  provision  for  her  old  age. 

Thus  she  acted  the  pious  part  of  a  peace-maker 
merely  with  the  view  of  getting  Glaser's  wife 
into  her  power,  and  welcomed  and  caressed  her 
victim  in  order  the  more  quickly  and  safely  to  sa- 
crifice her. 


ANNA   MARIA   ZWANZIGER.  137 

Madame  Glaser  had  been  only  a  few  weeks  in 
the  house  of  her  husband,  who  treated  her  with  the 
greatest  kindness  and  aflection,  when  Anna  Zwan- 
ziger  began  to  put  her  scheme  into  execution.  On 
the  13th  or  14th  August,  she  put,  as  she  declared, 
half  a  teaspoonful  of  arsenic  into  some  tea  which 
stood  at  the  fire,  and  gave  it  to  Madame  Glaser, 
who  drank  it,  and  soon  after  was  seized  with  vom- 
iting. "  "Wlien  I  gave  her  the  arsenic  in  the  tea," 
said  Zwanziger,  "  I  said  to  myself,  I  must  make 
my  old  age  comfortable,  and  if  the  poison  does  not 
do  her  business  this  time,  Avhy  I  will  give  it  her 
again  till  it  does."  And  accordingly  a  few  days 
afterwards,  on  the  15th  August,  between  four  and 
five  in  the  afternoon,  she  dissolved  a  large  dessert 
spoonful  of  tartar  emetic  in  a  cup  of  coifee,  and  in- 
vited Madame  Glaser  into  her  room  to  drink  it. 
She  did  so,  and  drank  her  death.  That  night  she 
was  seized  with  vomiting  and  pains  in  the  intes- 
tines, which  increased  in  violence,  and  in  ten  days 
she  was  a  corpse.  "  When,"  said  Zwanziger,  "  I 
had  mixed  the  poison  in  the  cup,  and  saw  how 
thick  it  was,  I  said  to  myself,  Lord  Jesus  !  this 
time  she  must  surely  die." 

It  is  highly  characteristic  of  Zwanziger  that  in 
her  confession  she  endeavored  to  implicate  Justice 
Glaser  in  crime  ;  she  accused  him  of  having  insti- 
gated her  to  murder  his  wife,  of  being  privy  to  the 
attempt  with  the  tea,  and  of  having  given  her  the 
tartar  emetic  to  put  in  the  coffee,  with  the  words — 
"  There,  do  you  give  it  to  her;  such  carrion  is  no 
loss."  In  consequence  of  this  statement.  Justice 
Glaser  was  aiTested  and  involved  in  the  examina- 
tion ;  which,  however,  terminated  in  his  complete 
acquittal. 

About  a  week  before  the  first  attempt  on  Gla- 
ser's  wife,  a  certain  Wagenholz,  with  his  wife  and 
son,  came  to  call  on  the  Glasers,  and  stopped  to 

m2 


138  REMARKABLE   CRIMINAL    TRIALS. 

Slipper.  Soon  after,  the  whole  party  were  taken  ill 
willi  sickness  and  vomiting.  Next  day  Zwanziger 
gave  the  remains  of  the  food  to  the  son  of  Harbach, 
the  watchman,  and  he  too  was  so  sick  as  to  be  con- 
fined to  his  bed  for  some  time.  It  is  uncertain  whe- 
ther her  object  was  merely  to  try  the  eft'ect  of  her 
poison  preparatory  to  her  more  important  scheme, 
or  whether  the  guests  were  unwelcome  to  her,  and 
she  wished  to  punish  them  for  coming  uninvited, 
and  her  master  and  mistress  for  receiving  them  too 
graciously.  However  this  may  be,  she  denied  the 
charge  altogether,  at  the  same  time  taking  the  op- 
jiortunity  of  throwing  fresh  suspicion  upon  Glaser. 
"  He  was,"  said  she,  "  as  savage  as  Satan  himself 
against  Wagenholz  and  his  wife,  and  I  thought  at 
the  time  that  he  must  have  put  something  into  the 
food,  fori  was  very  sick  and  ill  myself" 

After  Madame  Glaser's  death,  on  the  25th  Sep- 
tember of  the  same  year,  1808,  she  was  taken  into 
Justice  Grohmann's  service.  Here  her  envy  and 
jealousy  were  immediately  excited  by  the  two 
messengers  Lawrence  and  Johann  Dorsch,  who, 
besides  their  official  duties,  rendered  various 
domestic  services  to  Grohmann.  Moreover  she 
asserted  that  they  constantly  teazed  and  laughed  at 
her,  and  it  vexed  her  that  they  drank  too  much 
beer.  "  I  determined,"  said  the  prisoner,  "  to  spoil 
their  appetite,  and  took  four  pitchers  of  beer, 
two  of  which  I  mixed  with  tartar  emetic,  and  the 
other  two  with  a  larger  dose  of  arsenic  ;  my  inten- 
tion was  to  give  them  the  contents  of  these  pitchers 
by  degrees,  not  in  order  to  kill  them,  but  only  to 
make  them  sick.  I  once  set  one  of  these  poisoned 
pitchers  before  them,  but  they  did  not  like  the 
taste  of  the  beer,  and  drank  very  little  of  it,  after 
which  they  emptied  another  pitcher,  which  con- 
tained no  poison." 

The  two  Dorschs  felt  no  bad  effect  whatever,  and 


ANNA    MARIA    ZWANZIGER.  139 

Zwanzlger  never  repeated  the  attempt,  probably 
because  her  attention  was  speedily  directed  to  a 
more  important  object. 

In  the  spring  of  1809  Justice  Christopher  Hoff- 
mann, of  Wiesenfels,  visited  Grohmann,  who  was 
then  ill  in  bed.  A  few  glasses  of  beer,  which  tasted 
flat  and  unpleasant,  were  given  to  him,  but  he 
cannot  remember  by  whom,  and  immediately  after 
he  went  to  see  Gebhard.  Scarce  had  he  anived 
at  Gebhard's  house,  when  he  felt  very  sick  and 
went  out  into  the  air,  whereupon  he  was  seized 
with  violent  vomiting.  The  prisoner  denied  hav- 
ing poisoned  him  intentionally,  but  said  that  she 
l^ut  the  pitchers  which  she  had  mixed  with  poison 
for  the  Dorschs  into  the  cellar  with  the  rest  of  the 
beer  without  marking  them,  and  that  she  was  un- 
able to  distinguish  the  poisoned  from  the  unpoison- 
ed  beer.  "  Thus  then,"  said  she,  "  it  is  possible 
that  he  may  have  drunk  some  of  the  poisoned  beer 
by  accident,  but  it  certainly  was  never  my  intention 
even  to  make  him  sick,  for  he  was  a  very  respec- 
table and  excellent  man,  for  whom  I  had  a  great 
regard,  and  who  had  always  shown  me  every  re- 
spect, as  also  had  his  wife." 

One  day  Madame  Scliell  and  her  husband  went 
to  see  Grohmann,  and  she  drank  a  cup  of  coffee. 
During  the  course  of  her  visit  at  Grohraann's  she 
fainted  and  vomited — the  prisoner  denied  having 
given  her  any  poison,  and  there  was  room  for  doubt, 
as  Madame  Schell  did  not  remember  distinctly 
whether  she  was  taken  ill  before  drinkincr  the  coffee 
or  after. 

It  was  not  juridically  proved  that  Grohmann 
died  by  poison,  but  the  unusual  symptoms  that 
appeared  during  his  last  illness,  the  ti'aces  of  arsenic 
found  in  the  exhumed  corpse,  and  the  opinion  of 
the  physicians  attached  to  the  court,  rendered  it 
not  only  possible,  but  highly  probable.      A  pro- 


140  REMARKABLE    CRIMINAL    TRIALS. 

bability,  amounting  almost  to  certainty,  pointed 
out  Anna  Zwanziger  as  the  poisoner.  A  person 
who  had  ah'eady  poisoned  one  woman,  wiio  was 
in  the  constant  habit  of  dealing  with  poisons,  and 
who  kejit  a  large  store  of  poiscjncd  drink  ready  in 
Grohmann's  house,  which  she  had,  according  to 
her  own  confession,  already  used  to  the  injury  of 
two  persons  on  the  very  slightest  provocation, — 
such  a  person  would  look  upon  such  a  deed  as  a 
commonplace  occun-ence.  Moreover  she  was  con- 
stantly about  her  master  while  suffering  from  gout ; 
sought  to  keep  away  those  who  wished  to  wjiitupon 
him  and  was  angry  when  others  gave  him  his  medi- 
cines. These  suspicions  were  strengthened  by 
her  violent  demonstrations  of  grief  at  Grohmann's 
death,  and  the  cries  and  lamentations  with  which 
she  made  the  whole  house  resound,  more  esjjecially 
whenever  any  stranger  came  into  the  room.  Nor 
are  her  motives  for  murdering  him  difficult  to 
guess.  Ill  as  he  was,  Grohmann  intended  to  many 
the  daughter  of  the  neighboring  Justice  Horrgott, 
at  Dachsbach.  Grohmann's  courtship  and  the 
prospect  of  his  marriage  were  highly  distasteful  to 
Anna  Zwanziger,  and  she  showed  this  in  various 
ways.  Every  letter  that  went  to  or  came  from 
Dachsbach  was  watched,  waylaid,  and  examined. 
Grohmann  once  told  Madame  Schell  that  he  was  by 
no  means  satisfied  with  his  housekeeper;  that  "she 
imagined  every  letter  he  received  contained  some 
offer  of  marriage,  and  that,  old  as  she  was,  she  had 
actually  taken  it  into  her  head  that  he  would  man-y 
her."  John  Dorsch  also  said,  "  Whenever  I  went 
to  the  house,  and  asked  after  the  health  of  her 
master,  her  constant  answer  was  '  Why,  he  is  al- 
ways ill,  and  yet,  to  be  sure,  he  wants  to  marry.' " 
She  talked  in  the  same  strain  to  Grohmann's  sis- 
ter: "  Your  brother's  intended  is  accustomed  to 
a  merry  life,  and  will  never  be  happy  in  such  a 


ANNA    MAIUA    ZVVANZIGEK.  HI 

quiet  place  as  Sanspariel,  with  nothing  to  do  but 
to  be  always  mixing  draughts."  At  length  there 
was  a  report  in  Grohmann's  house  that  the  banns 
had  actually  been  published,  and  that  the  bride 
■was  expected  in  eight  days ;  this  threw  Zwanzi- 
ger's  tongue  and  temper  into  a  state  of  extraordi- 
nary excitement.  Just  at  this  time  Grohmann 
was  taken  ill,  and  in  a  few  days  he  died.  If  we 
consider  these  circumstances  and  the  woman's 
character,  the  following  explanation  appears  ex- 
tremely probable  : — That  she,  who  never  entered 
any  man's  service  without  reckoning  upon  him 
as  her  future  husband,  indulged  like  hopes  of  Groh- 
mann. But  when,  spite  of  all  the  flattery  and 
subservience  by  which  she  had  hoped  to  worm  her- 
self into  his  good  graces,  she  found  herself  disap- 
pointed, anger  against  her  master,  envy  of  the  young 
girl  whose  good  fortune  she  envied,  hatred  of  them 
both,  and  of  the  marriage  which  she  foresaw  would 
cost  her  her  place — these  were  sufficient  to  induce 
a  person  of  her  disposition  to  resolve  upon  punish- 
ing Grohmann  by  death,  and  his  intended  binde  by 
depriving  her  of  her  bridegroom — and  thus  to 
avenge  her  jealous  fury  upon  them  both.  The 
most  charitable  interpretation  of  which  her  conduct 
admits,  is,  that  she  administered  the  poison  to  him 
with  the  object  of  keeping  him  continually  so  ill 
as  to  prevent  the  marriage,  and  by  making  herself 
necessary  to  him  as  a  nurse,  of  securing  the  per- 
manence of  her  situation.  She  denied  having 
poisoned  Grohmann  intentionally,  but  admitted 
that  he  accidentally  drank  some  of  the  poisoned 
beer,  Avhich  she  kept  ready  for  the  Dorschs. 
When  she  set  the  poisoned  pitcher  before  them, 
they  refused  to  touch  it,  and  placed  it  on  a  table  with 
the  other  pitchers  intended  for  Grohmann  and  his 
visitors.  "  The  three  remaining  poisoned  pitch- 
ers," she  continued,  "  I  placed  in  the  cellar  with 


142  REMARKABLE    CRIMINAL    TRIALS. 

those  containing  the  sound  beer,  and,  as  I  had  not 
mnrkod  them  distinctly,  the  pitchers  got  mixed,  so 
that  1  could  no  longer  distinguish  between  those 
which  were  poisoned  and  those  which  were  not. 
It  is  therefore  very  possible  that  Grohmann  may 
have  drunk  some  of  the  poisoned  beer,  in  the  same 
manner  as  Hofl'mann  also  did.  I  cannot  deny 
that  he  vomited  very  often.  But  Grohmann  was 
much  too  valuable  to  me  that  I  should  injure  him 
2)urposely ;  he  was  all  in  all  to  me ;  and  what  he 
ate,  that  I  ate  too.  He  was  my  best  friend,  and 
never  offended  me,  so  that  I  had  nothing  to  revenge 
upon  him." 

According  to  the  strict  letter  of  the  law,  the  in- 
tentional poisoning  was  not  clearly  proved,  but  no 
unprejudiced  person  could  entertain  any  doubt  of 
it.  How  improbable  is  the  statement  by  which 
she  attempted  to  explain  away  her  crime  !  Groh- 
mann is  "her  all  in  all;  her  best  friend;"  and  yet 
she  leaves  a  pitcher  of  poisoned  beer  in  his  way ; 
she  knows  that  the  pitchers  of  poisoned  and  sound 
beer  are  mixed  together  in  the  cellar,  and  yet,  re- 
gardless of  the  consequences,  she  places  those 
which  may  possibly  be  poisoned  before  her  sick 
and  "highly  treasured  best  fi-iend!" 

On  the  24th  May,  1810,  the  body  of  Madame 
Gebhard  was  asrain  disintei'red  and  shown  to  Zwan- 
ziger,  in  the  churchyard  at  Wonsers.  She  touched 
the  righthand,  saying,  "Peace  be  with  your  ashes! 
I  wish  I  lay  in  the  grave  by  yovxr  side ;  I  should 
there  be  freed  from  my  woes  !"  She  was  then  led 
to  Grohmann's  grave.  "Yes,"  said  she,  "this  is 
the  grave  of  Justice  Grohmann  !  With  his  death, 
as  with  Madame  Gebhard's,  I  had  nothing  to  do." 
Madame  Gebhard,  however,  was,  as  she  afterwards 
confessed ,  actually  poisoned  by  her.  She  therefore 
probably  had  as  much  to  do  with  Grohmann's 
death  as  with  Madame  Gobhard's  ;  and  her  assov- 


ANNA    MARIA    ZWANZIGER.  143 

erations  at  his  grave  may  be  considered  as  a  sort 
of  veiled  and  halt-ironical  admission  that  she  was 
as  innocent  of  his  murder  as  of  Madame  Gebhard's. 

In  Gebhard's  house,  which  she  entered  on  the 
13th  May,  1809,  as  hovisekeepcr  and  monthly 
nurse,  her  career  of  guilt  was  still  more  rapid. 

Scarce  had,  she  been  in  the  house  four  days 
before  she  selected  the  lying-in  woman  as  her  vic- 
tim. "Because,"  said  the  prisoner,  "Madame 
Gebhard.  was  very  cross,  treated  me  roughly,  and. 
scolded  me  for  having,  as  she  said,  neglected  the 
housekeeping,  I  resolved  to  poison  her."  On 
Wednesday,  the  17th  May,  Zwanziger  accordingly 
went  into  the  cellar,  where  she  poisoned  two  pitch- 
ers of  beer,  one  with  as  much  tartar  emetic  as  she 
could  take  up  between  the  fingers  of  her  right 
hand,  and  the  other  with  a  still  stronger  dose  of 
arsenic.  On  the  same  day  a  glass  jug  was  filled 
out  of  the  first  j^itcher  for  the  lying-in  woman ;  and 
Gebhard  himself,  unconscious  of  what  he  was 
doing,  repeatedly  handed  the  poisonous  draught 
to  his  wife.  On  Friday,  the  19th  May,  the  day 
before  her  death,  the  contents  of  the  second  pitch- 
er were  placed  before  the  sick  woman,  who  drank 
but  little.  "I  did  not  give  her  the  poison  to  kill 
her,"  said  Zwanziger,  "but  only  to  plague  her  by 
making  her  sick,  because  she  had  plagued  me.  I 
knew  very  well  that  the  beer  could  do  her  no  harm. 
Had  I  thought  that  Madame  Gebhard  died  by  my 
fault,  I  would  have  laid  myself  in  the  grave  beside 
her ;  for  she  had  always  been  fond  of  me  ;  she  was 
my  best  friend,  and  always  helped  me  by  word 
and  deed ;  she  praised  me  wherever  she  went,  and 
was  invariably  kind  to  me.  We  were  like  two 
sisters;  we  constantly  met  and  talked  about  eco- 
nomical matters."  The  malice  and  duplicity  ex- 
hibited in  this  statement  surpass  all  one  can  believe 
of  human  depravity,  and  it  presents  a  vex*y  remark- 


144  REMARKABLE    CRIMINAL    TRIALS. 

able  parallel  to  her  declarations  about  Grolimanii. 
She  confessed  that  she  intentionally  gave  poison  to 
her  "  best  friend — her  sister — her  friend  in  word 
and  deed," — Madame  Gebhard;  and  on  the  other 
hand  she  asked,  "how  could  she  have  wished  to 
poison  Grohmann,  who  was  her  "best  friend — her 
all  in  all." 

No  one  can  doubt  that  her  assertion  that  she  did 
not  give  Madame  Gebhard  poison  with  the  inten- 
tion of  causing  her  death,  was  a  mere  lie.  Why, 
if  she  did  not  want  to  destroy  her,  did  she,  after 
the  first  pitcher  was  exhausted,  give  to  her  mis- 
tress— already  dangerously  ill — the  beer  contain- 
ing a  still  larger  dose  of  poison  1  Nor  does  her 
assertion  that  she  did  it  to  revenge  insult  and  un- 
kindness  at  all  agree  with  any  other  part  of  the 
evidence.  It  was  completely  proved  by  the  evi- 
dence of  a  number  of  witnesses,  and  by  several 
passages  in  letters  found  in  her  commode,  that  she 
had  conceived  the  same  washes  and  formed  the 
same  scheme  with  regard  to  Gebhard  as  she  had 
already  done  with  regard  to  Glascr  and  Grohmann ; 
and  although  she  had  no  ground  for  hope  that 
Gebhard  would  marry  her,  still  there  was  always 
the  possibility  that  if  left  a  widower  he  might  be  in- 
duced to  do  so ;  and  to  a  pei'son  of  her  character 
this  was  sufficient  reason  for  putting  his  wife  out 
of  the  way. 

Towards  the  end  of  August,  as  we  have  already 
stated.  Beck,  a  shopman,  and  the  widow  of  the 
secretary  Alberti,  dined  with  Gebhard,  and  were 
poisoned.  The  jirisoner  confessed  this  charge. 
She  said  that  Beck  had  occasionally  teased  and 
laughed  at  her,  and  that  she  gave  him  some  beer 
mixed  with  arsenic  out  of  the  same  pitcher  from 
which  Madame  Gebhard  had  been  poisoned,  and 
which,  when  half  empty,  she  had  mei'ely  filled  up 
with  fi-esh  beer.     She  declared  that  it  was  never 


ANNA    MARIA    ZWANZIGER.  145 

her  intention  to  kill  him,  but  only  to  punish  him 
for  laughing  at  her.  "  1  must  confess,"  said  she, 
"  that  it  was  good  fun  to  see  people  who  had 
teased  me  made  very  sick."  She  also  acknow- 
ledged that  INIadame  Alberti  drank  out  of  the  same 
pitcher,  hut  added,  that  it  was  not  her  intention 
that  she  should  do  so,  for  that  she  dissuaded  her 
from  it,  and  gave  her  a  cordial  and  some  coffee 
after  she  had  been  made  sick  by  the  poisoned  beer. 

She  denied  having  poisoned  the  messenger  Ro- 
senhauer  with  wine,  but  confessed  having  done  so 
with  beer.  She  said  that  she  had  an  antipathy  to 
Rosenhauer  because  he  told  tales  against  her,  and 
that  she  gave  him  some  of  the  same  beer  that  she 
gave  to  Beck  a  few  days  later,  in  order  to  punish 
him ;  adding  that  on  both  occasions  she  did  no 
more  than  fill  up  the  pitcher  fi'om  which  Madame 
Gebhard  had  been  poisoned. 

With  regard  to  the  charge  of  poisoning  Rosen- 
hauer's  lad,  she  did  not  deny  the  deed,  but  only 
the  means  alleged.  She  said  that  "  it  was  con- 
trary to  common  sense  to  suppose  that  any  one 
could  be  poisoned  in  brandy,  which  is  so  clear  that 
the  least  grain  of  dust  could  be  seen  in  it ;  but  that 
as  Kraus  had  always  been  very  rude  to  her,  she 
gave  him  a  glass  of  the  poisoned  beer  to  make  him 
sick."  Her  statement  is  in  direct  contradiction  to 
the  fact  that  Kraus  was  taken  ill  after  drinking 
some  muddy-looking  brandy  given  him  by  Zwan- 
ziger  ;  whereas  he  affirmed  that  she  had  frequently 
given  him  beer,  from  which  he  had  never  perceived 
any  ill  effects. 

It  is  likewise  proved  that  on  the  1st  September, 
Gebhard,  Beck,  his  brother,  who  had  been  poi- 
soned by  Zwanziger  only  a  few  days  before,  the 
burgomaster  Petz  and  the  clerk  Scherber,  who 
were  assembled  on  the  skittle-gi'ound,  were  all 
taken  ill  after  drinking  some  beer  which  was  sent 
10  N 


14G  REMARKABLE    CRIMINAL    TRIALS. 

by  Zwanziger,  at  her  master's  desire,  and  out  of  his 
cellar.  Zwanziger  resolutely  denied  any  criminal 
intention ;  she  asserted  that  she  did  not  know  how 
it  happened  ;  "  that  perhaps  some  sediment  might 
have  remained  in  the  bottom  of  the  two  pitchers 
originally  prepared  for  Madame  Gcbhard,  that 
they  may  have  been  filled  up  afresh,  and  that  she 
may  have  sent  them  by  accident."  Nothing  can 
be  more  improbable  than  this  statement,  and  nothing 
more  certain  than  her  guilt,  according  to  all  the 
rules  of  experience  and  common  sense.  She,  to 
whom,  according  to  her  own  confession,  it  was 
"  great  fun"  to  watch  the  torments  of  the  people 
whom  she  had  poisoned,  might  think  it  vastly  droll 
to  spoil  the  sport  of  a  whole  party  and  be  enter- 
tained by  the  mere  thought  of  their  pains,  contor- 
tions, and  wry  faces ;  not  to  mention  that  among 
them  was  Beck,  whom  she  hated,  and  on  whom  she 
had  played  the  same  trick  only  a  few  days  before. 
Nor  is  her  statement  that  she  did  all  this  with 
the  same  two  pitchers,  into  which  she  had  put 
poison  on  the  17rh  May,  without  adding  any  fresh 
ai'senic  to  the  old  sediment,  at  all  more  credible; 
if  it  were  true,  they  must  have  strangely  resembled 
the  widow's  cruse  of  oil.  First,  Madame  Gebhard 
was  destroyed  by  their  contents  ;  next.  Beck  and 
Madame  Alberti  each  drank  several  glasses,  after 
which  they  were  both  violently  ill ;  then,  Rosen- 
hauer  and  Ki-aus ;  and  finally  a  party  of  five  per- 
sons, who  were  all  taken  ill,  and  most  of  whom 
felt  the  effects  of  the  poison  for  months.  The  fol- 
lowing circumstance  gives  the  key  to  a  far  more 
probable  exj)lanation : — On  the  evening  before 
her  departure  from  Gebhard's  house,  after  he  had 
taken  the  keys  from  her,  sho  went  into  the  cellar 
with  Scherber,  the  clerk,  in  order  to  show  him, 
what  he  could  easily  have  found  without  her,  the 
place  where  the  candles  were  kept.     As  Scherber 


ANNA    MARIA    ZWANZIGER.  147 

was  going  out  again  with  the  canJles,  she  took  up 
a  little  earthen  jar,  saying  that  she  would  take  it 
with  her,  for  that  it  had  stood  there  for  a  long  time 
past.  She  then  gave  it  to  the  housemaid,  and  told 
her  to  wash  it ;  and  in  doing  so  the  latter  perceived 
a  hard  white  deposit,  about  one-eighth  of  an  inch 
thick,  in  the  bottom  of  the  jar.  This  was  in  all 
probability  the  vessel  in  which  she  prepared  the 
poison  for  the  beer  as  often  as  she  wanted  it.  She 
denied  any  concern  with  the  sickness  which  at- 
tacked the  two-maid-servants,  Hazin  and  Wald- 
man,  after  drinking  the  coffee.  On  the  other  hand, 
she  confessed  that  she  put  poison  into  the  salt-box 
in  the  kitchen  on  the  evening  before  she  left  Geb- 
hard's  house.  "  I  must  confess,"  these  are  her 
own  words,  "  that  on  the  evening  before  my  de- 
parture I  mixed  the  contents  of  the  salt-box  which 
is  used  in  the  kitchen  with  arsenic,  in  order  that 
after  I  was  gone  everybody  who  stayed  in  the 
house  might  get  some  of  it,  and  also  in  order  to 
get  the  maid  into  trouble.  I  took  a  pinch  of  arse- 
nic out  of  my  pocket,  went  v^dth  it  from  my  bed- 
room into  the  kitchen,  whence  I  carried  the  salt- 
box  into  the  servants'  hall,  and  dropped  the  arse- 
nic into  it  while  I  stirred  the  salt  three  times,  and 
made  some  joke  about  it." 

Now  the  store  of  salt  in  the  barrel  was  likewise 
found  to  contain  a  considerable  admixture  of  arse- 
nic, and  out  of  this  very  barrel  Zwanziger  had 
with  her  own  hands  filled  the  kitchen  salt-box. 
There  is  scarce  room  for  doubt  that  she  who  put 
poison  into  the  one  put  it  into  the  other ;  and  yet 
she  asserted  her  innocence  in  the  face  of  all  this 
evidence.  "  I  can  only  suppose,"  said  she,  "  that 
several  persons  have  conspired  to  destroy  me." 

With  regard  to  Gebhard's  child,  an  infant  six 
months  old,  "  her  darling,"  as  she  called  it,  to  which 
she  was  accused  of  having  administered  arsenic  in 


148  REMARKABLE    CRIMINAL    TRIALS. 

a  biscuit  and  some  milk,  mider  pretence  of  affec- 
tion, she  stated  that  she  did  not  give  it  anything 
in  the  biscuit,  but  that  she  put  "just  the  least  bit 
of  tartar  emetic"  into  a  coft'ee-cup  full  of  milk,  of 
wliich  she  gave  the  child  a  few  spoonfuls,  and  then 
threw  away  the  rest,  on  perceiving  that  the  taitar 
was  not  entirely  dissolved.  She  says  that  she  had 
no  design  upon  the  child's  life,  but  only  wanted 
to  make  it  feel  sick,  so  that  it  might  cry  and  be 
uneasy,  and  thus  induce  Gebhard  to  send  for  her 
back  from  Eaireuth  to  quiet  it :  she  then  adds,  that 
she  waited  in  tliis  hope  at  Baireuth  for  four  weeks. 
That  her  account  of  the  motives  which  led  her  to 
commit  this  crime  is  in  the  main  true,  is  proved, 
by  various  passages  in  several  of  her  lettei-s  to 
Gebhard  ;  but  her  endeavor  to  extenuate  her  guilt 
is  as  evident  in  this  instance  as  in  all  the  preceding 
ones  ;  for  the  maid-servant  Hazin  states  that  Zwan- 
ziger  gave  the  child  a  biscuit  soaked  in  the  poi- 
soned milk,  which  filled  not  quite  half  a  coffee-cup, 
instead  of  a  whole  one,  and  which  she  let  the  child 
drink  right  off,  instead  of,  as  she  said,  giving  a  few 
teaspoonfuls. 

It  appears  strange  that  this  woman,  after  con- 
fessing, as  she  well  knew,  more  than  enough  to 
ensure  her  sentence  of  death,  should  have  endea- 
vored till  the  very  last  to  explain  away  and  gloss 
over  her  chief  crimes,  and,  in  the  face  of  the  most 
complete  evidence,  have  altogether  denied  her 
lesser  offences.  It  seemed  impossible  to  her  false 
and  distorted  nature  to  be  quite  sincere,  or  to  utter 
a  truth  without  associating  with  it  a  lie. 

When  Anna  Zwanziger  fell  into  the  hands  of 
justice,  she  had  already  reached  her  fiftieth  year; 
she  was  of  small  stature,  thin  and  deformed,  her 
sallow  and  meagi'e  face  was  deeply  furrowed  by 
passion  as  well  as  by  age,  and  bore  no  trace  of 
former  beauty.     Her  eyes  were  expressive  of  envy 


ANNA    MARIA    ZWANZIGER.  149 

and  malice,  and  her  brow  was  perpetually  clouded, 
even  when  her  lips  moved  to  smile.  Her  manner 
was  cringing,  servile,  and  affected,  and  age  and 
ugliness  had  not  diminished  her  craving  for  admi- 
ration. Even  in  prison  and  under  sentence  of 
death,  her  imagination  was  still  occupied  with  the 
pleasures  of  her  youth.  One  day  when  her  judge 
visited  her  in  prison,  she  begged  him  not  to  infer 
what  she  had  been  from  what  she  then  was,  for 
"  that  she  was  once  beautiful,  exceedingly  beauti- 
ful." 

The  following  story  of  her  life  is  founded  partly 
on  the  testimony  of  witnesses,  and  partly  on  her 
autobiography,  which  filled  eighteen  closely-written 
folio  sheets. 

Anna  Schonleben  was  born  at  Niirnberg,  on  the 
7tli  Auofust,  1760,  at  the  sign  of  the  Black  Cross, 
an  inn  belonging  to  her  father,  whose  name  was 
Schonleben.  He  died  only  a  year  and  a  half  after 
her  birth,  and  before  she  was  five  years  old,  she 
lost  her  mother  and  her  only  brother.  After  her 
mother's  death  she  was  put  to  board  with  an  old 
maid  at  Niirnberg,  and  two  or  three  years  later 
she  went  to  live  with  an  aunt  at  Feucht,  who,  she 
says,  was  a  second  mother  to  her ;  at  the  end  of 
two  years  more  she  was  sent  back  to  Niirnberg,  to 
live  with  the  widow  of  a  clergyman.  At  last,  when 
she  was  about  ten  years  old,  her  guardian,  a  rich 
merchant,  took  her  into  his  house,  where  she  re- 
ceived a  very  good  religious  education,  and  learnt 
writing,  reading,  arithmetic,  and  the  rudiments  of 
the  French  lano^uage,  besides  all  kinds  of  needle- 
work,  in  which  she  acquired  extraordmary  skill. 

She  had  scarcely  completed  her  fifteenth  year 
when  her  guardian  detennined  to  marry  her  to  a 
notary  named  Zwanziger.  She  did  not  like  her 
future  husband,  who  was  already  psfct  thirty,  and 
for  a  long  time  she  avoided  him  and  rejected  all 

N  2 


150  REMARKABLE    CRIMINAL    TRIALS. 

his  offers.  At  ]en<^th,  however,  her  guardian's 
persuasitMis  subdued  her  resistance,  and  in  the 
nineteenth  year  of  her  age,  she  became  Zwanziger's 
wife. 

Married  to  a  man  whom  she  feared  and  disHked, 
and  who  moreover  was  always  engaged  either  in 
business  or  in  drinking,  leaving  her  to  lead  a  life 
of  solitude  and  monotony,  which  contrasted  most 
disagi'ecably  with  the  gaiety  of  her  guardian's  house, 
she  endeavored  to  divert  her  melancholy  by  read- 
ing novels.  "  My  first  novel,"  said  she,  "  was  the 
*  Sorrows  of  Werther,'  and  it  affected  me  so  much 
that  I  did  nothing  but  weep  ;  if  I  had  had  a  pistol, 
I  should  have  shot  myself  too.  After  this  I  read 
'  Pamela,'  and  '  Emilia  Galeotti.'  "  Thus  unculti- 
vated and  frigid  natures  excite  their  imaginations 
to  represent  as  really  felt  emotions  they  are  inca- 
pable of  feeling.  Such  natures  strive  to  deceive 
themselves  as  well  as  others  by  a  mere  grimace  of 
sensibility,  till  at  last  it  becomes  so  habitual  to 
them,  that  they  are  really  incapable  of  distinguish- 
ing truth  from  falsehood,  and  end  by  poisonin'g  the 
very  source  of  truth,  the  natural  feelings.  Hypoc- 
risy, falsehood,  and  malice,  are  fruits  easily  pro- 
duced, and  fearfully  soon  matured  in  a  soul  accus- 
tomed to  disguise  its  real  feelings  under  assumed 
ones ;  and  thus  it  is  that  sentimentality  is  perfectly 
consistent  with  total  hardness  of  heart,  and  even 
with  cruelty. 

The  pleasures  of  sensibility  were  soon  superse- 
ded by  enjoyments  more  congenial  to  her  charac- 
ter ;  she  came  of  age,  and  her  projierty  was  deliv- 
ered into  the  hands  of  her  husband,  who  spent  it 
in  amusements,  in  which,  as  was  but  fair,  he*  per- 
mitted his  wife  to  take  part.  They  gave  dinners, 
concerts,  balls,  and  fetes  champetrcs,  and  spent 
their  days  ai*l  nights  in  a  constant  round  of  dissi- 
pation. 


ANNA   MARIA    ZWANZIGER.  151 

A  few  years  of  this  kind  of  life  exhausted  her 
fortune.  She  now  had  two  cliildren  to  support, 
and  her  husband  was  a  confirmed  drunkard,  who 
often  drank  ten  bottles  of  wine  a  day,  and  always 
wanted  to  be  at  the  tavern ;  he  was  as  ixTitable 
and  tyrannical  when  money  for  this  pui-jiose  was 
not  forthcoming,  as  he  was  obliging  and  indulgent 
when  he  got  it.  The  admirer  of  '  Pamela,'  she 
who  had  wept  over  the  '  Sorrows  of  Werther,'  now 
offered  her  person  for  hire.  "  But,"  said  she,  "  I 
always  had  the  delicacy  to  admit  none  but  men  of 
rank  and  discretion ;  for  from  my  youth  upwards, 
my  principle  has  ever  been  to  stick  to  those  who 
could  advance  my  fortunes ;  and  thus,  I  had  the 
good  luck  to  receive  a  great  deal  of  assistance  from 
many  distinguished  men." 

After  about  two  years,  Zwanziger  contrived  a 
scheme  for  a  lottery  of  watches,  which  for  a  time 
restored  their  fortunes.  This  improvement  in  their 
circumstances  immediately  brought  with  it  a  return 
to  habits  of  dissipation ;  the  course  of  life  which 
Zwanziger  had  entered  from  want  of  money,  she 
now  pursued  from  habit  and  inclination.  A  scan- 
dalous and  expensive  connection  with  a  Lieutenant 

von  B gave  rise  to  a  violent  domestic  quaiTel. 

Zwanziofer  left  her  husband,  and  went  to  her  lov- 
er's  sister  at  Vienna,  but  soon  returned  to  Niirnberg 
in  consequence  of  her  husband's  representatations, 
where,  at  her  lover's  instigation,  she  commenced 
an  action  for  divorce  against  her  husband,  and  ob- 
tained it  after  a  short  suit.  On  the  very  day  after 
the  proclamation  of  the  divorce  she  reraan-ied  him, 
and,  according  to  her  own  statement,  lived  with 
him  very  contentedly  till  the  day  of  his  death. 
She  says  that  she  ended  by  being  positively  attached 
to  him,  for  that  on  several  occasions  he  had  shown 
"  a  very  noble  way  of  thinking,  an(4  a  susceptible 
heart." 


152  REMARKABLE    CRIMINAL    TRIALS 

On  the  20th  January,  179G,  Anna  Zvvanziger 
was  left  a  widow,  after  eighteen  years  of  mamage. 
Her  husband  died  after  a  short  ilhicss,  and  slie  was 
suspected  of  having  poisoned  him,  hut  this  suspi- 
cion was  not  confiimed  on  investigation. 

Ever  since  her  husband's  death,  Zwunziger's  hfe 
was  one  tissue  of  misfortunes,  folhes,  vices,  and, 
finally,  crimes.  Her  patrimony  was  consumed, 
and  every  other  source  of  income  dried  up.  She 
was  unable  to  collect  in  all  more  than  400  florins. 
With  this  sum  she  went  to  Vienna,  as  she  gave  out, 
to  establish  herself  as  a  confectioner.  Failing  in 
this,  she  became  housekeeper  in  several  considera- 
ble families.  She  then  grew  intimate  with  a  clerk 
in  the  Hungarian  exchequer,  "  of  very  fine  sensi- 
bilities," by  whom  she  had  an  illegitimate  child, 
which  she  put  into  the  foundling  hospital,  where  it 
died  soon  after.  She  returned  to  Niirnberg  after 
an  absence  of  a  year  and  a  half 

She  had  at  first  no  intention  of  remaininar  lonjj  in 
her  paternal  city.  But  one  day  a  certain  Freiherr 
von  W called  upon  her,  and  offei'ed  his  pro- 
tection, his  friendship,  and  his  love.  She  perceived, 
as  she  said,  that  in  the  Freiherr  she  had  found  a 
"  very  noble  man,"  and  thereupon  hired  a  private 
lodging.  Here  she  was  constantly  visited  by  her 
protector,  who  provided  her  with  money ;  but,  ac- 
cording to  her  own  account,  respected  her  virtue. 
She  added  to  her  means  by  making  dolls. 

This  connection  lasted  about  three  months,  when 
the  place  of  housekeeper  to  one  of  the  ministers 
resident  at  Frankfiut  was  offered  to  her.  Her  no- 
ble protector  at  Niirnberg  was  so  generous  as  not 
to  stand  in  the  way  of  her  promotion,  and  she  set 
out  for  the  place  of  her  destination  with  100  florins, 
which  he  gave  her.  She  did  not,  however,  remain 
m  this  situation  above;  two  or  three  months,  chiefly 
owing  to  her  dirty  habits  and  want  of  skill  in  cook- 


ANNA    MAFvlA    ZWANZIGER.  153 

ery.  According  to  her  own  statement,  indeed,  she 
stayed  there  a  year  and  a  half,  and  left  her  place 
for  quite  different  reasons. 

She  then  hired  an  apartment  over  a  hairdresser's 
shop  at  Frankfurt,  for  a  month  :  entered  the  ser- 
vice of  a  ti'oop  of  equestrian  performers,  whom  she 
quitted  at  the  end  of  eight  days,  as  they  were  going 
to  Bamberg,  and  returned  to  the  hairdresser  at 
Frankfurt,  where  a  merchant  took  her  for  a  short 
time  into  his  family  as  nursemaid — all  this  within 
the  space  of  a  few  months.  So  many  misfortunes 
in  succession,  added  to  the  insupportable  thought 
of  having  fallen  from  her  station  as  mistress  of  a 
house  and  family  to  the  condition  of  a  servant, 
worked  so  strongly  on  her  feelings  as  to  cause  her 
to  behave  like  a  mad  woman.  She  wept,  laughed, 
and  prayed  by  turns.  She  received  her  mistress's 
orders  with  a  laugh,  and  went  obediently  away,  but 
never  executed  them. 

In  her  extreme  need  she  applied  by  letter  to  her 
noble  friend  the  FreiheiT,  who  accordingly  again 
offered  her  his  protection,  and  on  her  aiTival  at 
Niii-nberg  received  her  with  open  arms.  "  But,  to 
her  astonishment" — so  she  would  have  it  believed 
— "  she  now  found  a  great  alteration  in  his  manners. 
He,  a  married  man,  grew  free  in  his  speech  and 
conduct,  and  at  last  so  far  forgot  his  dignity  "  as  to 
cause  her  to  have  the  prospect  of  becoming  a 
mother."*  As  soon  as  her  protector  was  informed 
of  this  fact,  his  manner  became  colder  and  his 
visits  less  frequent,  and  she  soon  ascertained  that 
he  paid  far  greater  attention  to  an  actress  of  con- 
siderable reputation  in  Germany,  who  was  then  at 
Niiraberg.  This  shock,  as  she  pretended,  brought 
on  a  miscai-riage  :  and  not  content  with  this,  on 
the  following  day  she  bonowed  a  lancet  from  the 

*  This  was  probably  a  mere  pretext  to  attach  her  lover  to  her 
more  firmly. 


154  REMARKABLE    CRIMINAL    TRIALS. 

people  of  die  house  and  opened  a  vein  in  each  arm, 
but,  as  she  said,  "  was  stopped  in  the  execution  of 
her  purpose,  and  lost  only  a  teacu})ful  of  blood." 
The  owner  of  the  lodging  called  upon  Freiherr  von 

W ,  told  him  what  had  hap[)cncd,  and  showing 

him  the  fatal  lancet,  induced  him  to  visit  this 
female  Werther  on  the  following  day.  The  Frei- 
herr appeared,  but  not  as  a  penitent.  When  the 
teacupful  of  blood  was  shown  to  him,  he  laughed 
at  her  folly,  and  after  a  scene  of  violent  reproaches 
on  her  side  he  turned  his  back  upon  her,  and 
never  saw  her  again.  Burning  for  revenge,  she 
collected  his  letters  and  sent  them  to  his  wife.  She 
then  went  with  Siegwail  in  her  pocket,  and  ac- 
companied by  her  maid,  to  the  Pegnitz,  resolved, 
as  she  asserted,  to  drown  herself.  She  seated  her- 
self on  the  bank  of  the  river,  and  read  Siegwart, 
till  she  came  to  the  song  "  Mein  leben  ist  so 
ti"aurig,"  &c.,  whereupon  she  jumped  into  the 
stream.  Two  fisheiTnen  who  were  near  at  hand, 
rescued  her,  with  no  other  injury  than  a  thorough 
wetting.  A  change  of  clothes  was  immediately 
brought  her,  and  the  wet  ones  were  carried  to  the 
Freiherr  as  evidence  of  her  second  attempt  at 
suicide.  The  maid  who  conveyed  them  received 
from  the  Freiherr  25  florins,  with  the  recoiiimen- 
dation  to  her  mistress  to  quit  Niirnberg  as  soon  as 
possible.  She  accordingly  went  to  Ratisbon  that 
very  night,  without  even  returning  to  her  lodging. 
It  is  evident  that  the  object  of  these  two  attemjits 
at  self-destruction  was  the  same.  She  let  herself 
blood  with  no  intention  to  bleed  to  death  ;  and 
jumped  into  the  water  merely  that  she  might  be 
pulled  out  again.  Nevertheless  she  ascribed,  and 
no  doubt  truly,  her  hatred  of  mankind  to  the 
faithless  and  hard-hearted  conduct  of  her  protector. 
She  said  in  one  of  her  examinations,  "  It  is  all 
Freiherr  von  W 's  fault  that  my  heart  is  so 


ANNA    MARIA    ZWANZIGER.  155 

hard.  When  I  opened  my  veins  and  he  saw  my 
blood,  he  only  laughed.  And  when  I  reproached 
him  with  having  once  before  ruined  a  poor  girl 
who  drowned  herself  and  her  child  by  him,  he 
laughed  again.  My  feelings  were  terrible,  and 
when  I  afterwards  did  anything  wicked,  I  said  to 
myself,  No  one  ever  pitied  me,  and  therefore  I  will 
show  no  pity  to  others," 

At  Ratisbon  she  lay  ill  for  three  weeks  of  a 
fever ;  she  then  went  to  Vienna,  thence  back  to 
Niirnberg,  and  finally  into  Thuringia,  where  in 
1804  she  entered  the  service  of  Kammerherr  von 

S at  Weimar,  as  housemaid.     According  to 

her  account  all  the  servants  in  the  house  were  hard 
worked  and  ill  paid,  for  which  reason  she  soon  got 
tired  of  it  and  resolved  to  leave  it  secretly  without 
giving  warning,  and  to  carry  away  something  "  to 
make   herself  amends."     "  My    plan,"    says  she, 
"  succeeded  admirably.     One  day  while  my  master 
and  mistress  were  at  dinner,  I  was  told  to  play 
with    the   child  to   keep  it  quiet.     I  accordingly 
went  vpith  it  into  the  drawing-room,  where  there 
was  a  small  round  table  with  a  drawer,  in  which 
were  a  diamond  ring,  a  number  of  pearls,  eari-ings, 
jewels,  and  other  such  trinkets.     Where,  thought  I, 
such  things  as  these  are  left  for  a  child  to  play  with, 
it  is  clear  that  they  are  not  much  valued  ;  if  they 
were,  they  would  be  locked  up.     At  that  moment 
the  claild  was  playing  with  a  ring-case,  and,  after 
rolling  it  to  and  fro,  put  it  into  my  hand  ;   I  opened 
it,  and  on  seeing  the  ring  I  felt  as  if  some  one 
stood  beside  me  and  said  '  Keep  it !'  I  obeyed  the 
inspiration,  put  the  child  to  sleep,  and  quitted  the 
house  and  the  town  before  my  master  and  mistress 
had   left  the  dinner-table."     This    ingenious  ro- 
mance, in  which  she  ascribes  a  deed  which  she  had 
unguardedly   owned  to  be  premeditated,  to    the 
sudden  inspiration  of  an  evil  spirit,  and  which  is 


156  REMARKABLE    CRIMINAL    TRIALS. 

moreover  calculated  to  give  an  unfavorable  idea  of 
the  habits  of  order  and  care  of  her  mistress,  is 
utterly  inconsistent  with  the  very  prosaic  account 
of  the  affair  given  by  the  latter,  who  declares  that 
the  ring  was  taken  out  of  a  locked  escritoire, 
the  key  of  which  was  kept  in  her  owii  work- 
basket. 

Having  escaped  fi'om  Weimar  with  her  booty, 
Zwanzigor  took  refuge  with  her  son-in-law  Sauer, 
a  bookbinder,  at  Mainbernheim.  Scarcely,  how- 
ever, had  she  been  three  days  in  his  house,  when 
a  newspaper  fell  into  his  hands  containing  an  adver- 
tisement from  Weimar  for  the  apprehension  of  his 
mother-in-law  on  the  charge  of  having  stolen  a  dia- 
mond ring.  He  immediately  turned  her  out  of  his 
house,  and  on  the  same  day  she  went  to  Wiirzburg, 
whence  she  had  the  audacity  to  write  to  the  master 
whom  she  had  robbed,  reproaching  him  for  bringing 
her  into  misfortune  by  this  public  advertisement. 
And  indeed  it  had  fallen  upon  her  like  a  thunder- 
bolt ;  her  name  was  dishonored,  she  was  outlawed 
and  civilly  dead ;  and  in  order  to  be  tolerated 
among  men  she  was  forced  as  it  were  to  cease  to 
exist  in  her  own  person,  and  from  this  time  forward 
she  exchanged  the  name  of  Zwanziger  for  her 
maiden  name  of  Schonleben. 

She  wandered  about  Franconia  for  some  time, 
staying  now  in  one  place  and  now  in  another,  and 
finding  temporary  shelter  and  assistance  chiefly 
among  people  of  rank  and  education.  At  length, 
in  the  year  1805,  she  found  a  provision  in  tha 
little  town  of  Neumai'kt,  in  the  upper  Palatinate. 
She  established  herself  there  to  teach  needlework 
to  young  girls,  got  a  number  of  pupils,  besides 
earning  a  good  deal  by  sewing,  and,  according  to 
the  testimony  of  the  magistrates,  won  universal 
good-will  by  her  industry  and  her  decorous  be- 
havior.    But  her  fate,  or  rather  her  restless  dis- 


ANNA    MARIA    ZWANZIGER.  157 

contented  spirit,  would  not  suffer  lier  to  remain 
quiet.  Unhappily  for  her,  old  General  N.  came 
to  stay  a  while  at  Neumai"kt.  She  contrived  to 
insinuate  herself  into  the  old  gentleman's  favor, 
who  descended  to  the  closest  familiarity  with  her, 
and  on  one  occasion  promised  to  provide  for  her. 
She  was  again  filled  with  the  memory  of  bygone 
days,  in  which  she  enjoyed  the  pi-otection  of  "dis- 
tinguished noblemen,"  and  fancied  that,  old  as  she 
was,  those  days  were  now  about  to  return.  She 
already  dreamed  of  going  to  Munich  as  the  mis- 
tress of  "  his  Excellency."  She  indulged  these 
visions  with  feelings  of  perfect  security,  as  she 
had  "  always  heard  that  the  Catholics  nearly 
always  kept  their  word."  General  N.  left  Neu- 
markt,  and  soon  after  she  wrot-e  to  him,  but  re- 
ceived no  answer.  Some  time  after  she  wrote 
again,  and  falsely  told  him  that  she  was  with  child. 
But  instead  of  an  answer,  she  received,  through 
the  hands  of  a  clergyman,  a  trifling  sum  of  money 
to  stop  her  importunities.  Not  yet  discouraged, 
she  left  Neumarkt,  where  she  had  found  peace 
and  support  for  a  whole  year,  and  went  to  Munich 
to  present  herself  in  person  before  his  Excellency, 
but  was  refused  admission.  She  wrote  a  letter  to 
him  from  the  inn,  but  received  a  verbal  answer 
tlirough  a  secretary  or  servant  to  the  effect  that 
she  was  no  longer  to  trouble  his  Excellency  with 
her  foolish  impertinence ;  he  also  sent  her  a  small 
sum  of  money  for  her  traveling  expenses. 

Thus  forced  to  leave  Munich,  she  went  to  several 
different  places  in  succession  till  her  destiny  led 
her  to  Pegnitz  in  1807,  and  from  thence  to  Ka- 
sendorf  and  Sanspareil,  the  scene  of  her  greater 
crimes. 

In  her  youth  this  woman  showed  herself  irre- 
solute, coquetish,  superficially  accomplished,  and 
pervexted  by  reading  sentimental  novels.     Always 


158  REMARKABLE    CRIMINAL    TRIALS. 

the  slave  of  circumstances,  she  at  fii'st  gave  herself 
up  to  folly  and  dissipation,  until  she  giadually 
sank  into  vice,  and  at  last  sold  her  person  for 
money  ;  and  thus,  with  honor  and  self-respect,  she 
lost  her  last  social  restraint  and  support. 

Her  vanity,  which  she  dignified  with  the  name 
of  delicate  sensibility,  drew  her  towards  the  higher 
classes ;  she  was  often  compelled  to  please  and 
attract  men  whom  she  did  not  like,  to  assume  a 
cheerful  countenance  among  strangers  by  whom 
she  was  repulsed  and  humbled,  and  to  smother 
the  passions  which  were  raging  within  her.  She 
was  too  restless  to  live  honestly  by  the  work  of 
her  hands  in  quiet  and  retirement,  and  too  proud 
to  be  satisfied  as  a  mere  domestic  servant ;  she 
therefore  affected  great  zeal  in  the  service  of  her 
various  masters,  and  endeavored  to  place  hei'self 
upon  such  a  confidential  footing  with  them  as  to 
preclude  all  exercise  of  authority  on  their  part. 
Tlius,  always  acting  a  part,  and  forced  to  appear 
different  to  what  she  really  was,  she  learnt  the  art 
of  accommodating  herself  to  those  with  whom  she 
lived,  and  lost  what  little  truth  and  honesty  was 
still  left  in  her.  She  became  false,  cunning, 
smooth-tongued,  and  hypocritical.  There  was  a 
smile  upon  her  lips,  while  within  there  was  burn- 
ing hatred ;  her  mouth  spoke  of  God,  while  her 
heart  took  counsel  of  Satan ;  she  sowed  hatred, 
while  she  spoke  the  words  of  conciliation  ;  her 
praises  were  calumnies,  and  her  calumny  was 
concealed  in  praise ;  when  forced  to  speak  the 
truth,  she  invariably  coupled  with  it  a  lie.  But 
she  was  not  yet  prepared  to  become  a  poisoner, 
and  a  compounder  of  poisons,  as  she  showed  her- 
self at  Kasendorf  and  Saiis])areil.  With  no  worse 
a  character  she  mi"-ht  still  beloncr  to  the  world ; 
with  these  vices  a  man  may  command  a  dis- 
tinguished  place   in   the    best    society,    as    they 


ANNA    MARIA    ZVVANZIGER.  159 

frequently  foi-m  the  basis  of  what  in  fashionable 
life  is  called  knowledge  of  the  world. 

But  Zwanziger  thought  herself  unfortunate,  and 
in  her  this  feeling  severed  all  the  ties  of  human 
sympathy.  Persecuted  by  destiny,  or  rather  by 
the  consequences  of  her  own  faults  and  vices,  her 
ever  ready  self-love  led  her  to  ascribe  every  hope 
deceived,  and  every  evil  that  befel  her,  to  the 
malice  or  the  cruelty  of  mankind.  With  such 
dispositions  as  these,  is  it  surprising  that  her  heart 
should  soon  be  filled  with  envy  and  mischief? 

After  being  for  twenty  years  a  wanderer  on 
the  face  of  the  earth,  nearly  fifty  years  of  age,  and 
still  homeless,  friendless,  and  only  endured  among 
men  by  concealing  her  real  name,  she  now  anxiously 
sought  a  resting-place  and  a  provision,  and  that 
not  as  the  maid-servant  she  now  was,  but  as  the 
mistress  of  a  house  which  she  had  formerly  been. 
She  could  no  longer  endure  to  belong  always  to 
others,  and  never  to  herself;  continually  to  cringe 
and  flatter,  and  to  affect  zeal  in  the  service  of 
those  whom  in  her  heart  she  hated ;  to  be  always 
dependent  and  8ubsei-\ient,  while  her  soul  was 
filled  with  the  recollection  of  bygone  days,  in 
which  she  was  the  object  of  attention  and  flattery. 
She  was  resolved  to  escape  from  this  position,  or 
at  all  events  to  find  some  compensation  for  it. 

But  no  means  of  acquiring  iriaependence  pre- 
sented itself  to  her  -within  the  pale  of  social  order, 
till  at  length  she  discovered  the  secret  of  a  hidden 
power,  by  the  exercise  of  which  she  might  not 
only  emancipate  herself  from  restraint,  but  also 
rule  unseen  and  uncontroled.  This  seci"et  power 
was  poison. 

As  Zwanziger  never  made  a  complete  and  sincere 
confession,  we  have  no  means  of  knowing  at  what 
time  and  on  what  inducement  the  idea  first  oc- 
curred to  her — whether  suddenly  or  by  slow  de- 


IGO  REMARKABLE    CRIMINAL    TRIALS 

grees — whether  she  at  onco  foiTned  a  systematic 
plan,  or  whether  it  developed  itself  little  by  little 
and  almost  unconsciously  in  her  mind.  Her  con- 
fession almost  always  leaves  us  in  the  dark  with 
regard  to  the  secret  springs  which  guided  her 
actions,  but  the  actions  themselves  are  so  numerous 
and  so  clear,  that  we  may  trace  them  to  their 
source  with  perhaps  as  much  certainty  as  the  most 
open  confession  could  do  for  us. 

Thus  much  is  clearly  proved  by  her  whole 
course  of  action — that  we  cannot  attribute  it,  as  in 
the  case  of  ordinary  criminals,  to  any  one  ruling 
passion,  or  to  one  especial  motive.  Her  attach- 
ment to  poison  was  based  upon  the  proud  con- 
sciousness of  possessing  a  power  which  enabled 
her  to  break  through  every  restraint,  to  attain 
every  object,  to  gratify  every  inclination,  and  to 
determine  the  very  existence  of  others.  Poison 
was  the  magic  wand  with  which  she  ruled 
those  whom  she  outwardly  obeyed,  and  opened 
the  way  to  her  fondest  hopes.  Poison  enabled 
her  to  deal  out  death,  sickness,  and  torture  to  all 
who  offended  her  or  stood  in  her  way — it  punished 
every  slight  —  it  prevented  the  return  of  unwel- 
come guests  —  it  disturbed  those  social  pleasures 
which  it  galled  her  not  to  share — it  afforded  her 
amusement  by  the  contortions  of  tho  victims,  and 
an  opportunity  of  ingratiating  herself  by  affecting 
sympathy  with  their  sufferings  —  it  was  the  means 
of  throwing  suspicion  upon  innocent  persons,  and 
of  getting  fellow-servants  into  trouble.  If  she  flat- 
tered herself  with  the  prospect  of  marrying  an  al- 
ready married  man,  at  her  will  wives  descended 
into  the  grave,  and  left  their  husbands  free  for  her. 
She  grudged  the  bride  her  bridegroom,  and  the 
wedding-feast  was  held  in  vain.  In  time,  mixing 
and  giving  poison  became  her  constant  occupa- 
tion ;  she  practised  it  in  jest  and  in  earnest,  and  at 


AiWA    MARIA    ZVVANZIGER.  161 

last  with  real  passion  for  poison  itself,  without  re- 
ference to  the  object  for  which  it  was  given.  She 
grew  to  love  it  from  long  habit ;  and  from  gratitude 
for  its  faithful  sei-vices,  she  looked  upon  it  as  her 
truest  friend,  and  made  it  her  constant  companion. 
At  her  apprehension  arsenic  was  found  in  her 
pocket,  and  when  it  was  laid  before  her  at  Culm- 
bach  to  be  identified,  she  seemed  to  trembl-e  with 
pleasure,  and  gazed  upon  the  white  powder  with 
eyes  beaming  with  rapture.  This  love  for  poison 
may  perhaps  in  some  degree  explain  why  she, 
who  had  confessed  the  most  atrocious  crimes  and 
was  under  sentence  of  death,  in  her  written  mem- 
oirs speaks  of  her  deeds  as  "slight  errors,"  accuses 
of  cruelty  and  injustice  those  who  could  bring 
destniction  upon  her  for  the  sake  of  such  "  trifling 
offences,"  and  boasts  of  her  "  piety"  as  only  "  too 
great,"  and  as  the  origin  of  all  her  misfortunes. 
So  true  is  it  that  habit  reconciles  us  to  everything, 
and  that  we  are  inclined  to  excuse  the  most  atro- 
cious crimes  when  they  are  committed  by  one  we 
love. 

On  the  7th  of  July,  1811,  the  court  at  Bamberg 
sentenced  Anna  Margaret  Zwanziger  to  have  her 
head  cut  off"  by  the  sword,  and  her  body  to  be  after- 
wards laid  upon  the  wheel. 

The  sentence  of  death  received  the  royal  con- 
fiiTnation,  accompanied  by  the  command  that  the 
exposure  of  the  body  on  the  wheel  be  omitted. 

Zwanziger  received  her  sentence  without  any 
perceptible  emotion,  and  signed  the  papers  pre- 
sented to  her  with  a  firm  hand.  She  passed  the 
three  days  which  remained  to  her  of  life  with  per- 
fect composure.  She  confessed  to  her  judge  that  her 
death  was  fortunate  for  mankind,  for  that  it  would 
have  been  impossible  to  her  to  discontinue  her  trade 
of  poisoning.  On  the  day  before  her  execution  she 
wrote,   in  the  j)i"esence  of  the  judge,  a  farewell 

11  o2 


162  REMAKKAULE    CRIMINAL,    TRIALS. 

letter  to  one  of  her  friends  at  Niimberg,  in  which 
she  thanks  her  in  measured  tenns  for  the  friend- 
ship she  had  shown  her,  begs  her  forgiveness  and 
sympathy,  sends  her  love  to  other  persons,  and 
concludes  thus : — "  I  must  now  end  ;  the  hour  will 
soon  strike  at  which  my  woes  will  cease.  Pray  for 
me.  The  17th  of  September  is  the  day  fixed  for 
my  death,  on  which  I  shall  receive  from  God  the 
reward  of  my  actions.  I  have  already  ceased  to 
belong  to  this  world."  She  wished  to  prove  to 
the  judge  her  sense  of  the  kindness  he  had  shown 
to  her  by  the  strange  request  that  he  would  allow 
her,  if  it  were  possible,  to  appear  to  him  alter  her 
death,  and  to  give  him  ocular  demonstration  of  the 
immortality  of  the  soul.  She  remained  constant 
to  her  character  on  the  day  of  her  execution.  She 
listened  to  her  sentence  with  the  greatest  com- 
posui-e,  and  without  sheddhig  a  tear.  While  it 
was  read  she  held  her  handkerchief  before  her 
face,  as  the  crowd  put  her  to  shame ;  and  when 
the  wand  was  broken  over  her,*  she  took  courteous 
leave  of  the  judge  and  officers  of  the  court,  as  of 
some  every-day  company. 

A  short  time  before  her  execution,  the  judge 
appealed  to  her  conscience  to  confess  the  in- 
nocence of  Justice  Glaser  ;  but  she  persisted  in 
her  slanderous  accusation  that  he  had  participated 
in  her  first  murder,  and  with  this  lie  U2)on  her  soul 
she  laid  her  guilty  head  upon  the  block, 

*  "  Breaking  the  wand"  in  Germany  answers  to  "  putting  on 
the  black  cap"  in  England. —  Trans. 


JAMES    THALREUTER; 

OR, 

THE  FALSE   PRINCE. 


James  Thalreuter  was  the  illegitimate  son  of 
Lieut.-Colonel  von  Reschei*  and  Barbara  Thalreu- 
ter, the  daughter  of  an  exciseman  :  he  was  born 
at  Landshut,  on  the  10th  September,  1809,  and 
acknowledged  by  his  father.  His  mother  died  the 
same  year,  and  before  he  was  three  years  old  his 
father  was  forced  to  leave  him  in  order  to  join  the 
Russian  campaign.  The  old  Baron  von  Strom- 
waiter,  who  enjoyed  a  retiring  pension  as  assessor 
of  the  council,  was  an  intimate  friend  of  the  lieut.- 
colonel,  and  with  his  wife's  consent  took  the  des- 
erted boy  under  his  protection  ;  and  although  he 
had  two  children  of  his  own,  a  married  daughter 
and  a  son  in  the  army,  he  always  treated  Thal- 
reuter as  if  he  were  his  son. 

The  Baroness  von  Stromwalter  bore  absolute 
sway  over  her  family  and  household :  her  husband, 
who  was  a  goodnatured,  weak,  and  foolish  man, 
knew  nothing  but  what  his  wife  allowed  him  to 
know,  and  took  no  part  in  any  affairs  except  where 
his  signature  was  necessary,  and  this  he  never 
ventured  to  refuse.  In  addition  to  this,  the  whole  of 
the  property  was  hers  except  her  husband's  pension, 
which  was  very  small.  She  possessed  funded  pro- 
perty to  the  amount  of  11,000  florins  (about  900/.), 
a  small  estate  called  Schwaig,  and  some  rents, 
tithes,  &c.,  from  which,  however,  several  debts  had 


164  REMAUKAULE    CRIMINAL    TRIALS. 

to  be  deducted.  The  fact  that  letters  addressed  to 
the  old  baron  were  opened  and  answered  by  his 
wife,  proves  how  little  he  was  regarded  in  his  own 
house.  The  baroness  was  in  the  habit  of  treating 
him  with  cool  contempt,  even  in  the  presence  of  a 
third  person. 

The  bai'oness  soon  conceived  the  most  extra- 
vagant affection  for  the  lively  young  Thalreuter ; 
she  was  charmed  with  tlie  amusing  rogueries  of 
the  mischievous  boy :  with  her,  his  rudeness  passed 
for  pi'etty  ways,  his  knavery  for  innocent  childish 
tricks,  and  a  lying  disposition  for  the  mark  of  a  fer- 
tile, precocious,  and  promising  genius. 

His  foster-parents  lived  for  a  long  time  on  their 
estate  of  Schwaig,  where  farmers'  sons  and  plough- 
boys  wei'e  the  sole  companions  of  the  spoiled  boy, 
who  thus  had  ever  before  his  eyes  examples  of 
plebeian  coarseness,  vulgar  habits,  and  still  moi'e 
vulgar  ways  of  thinking. 

The  foster-mother  sent  him  to  the  Catholic 
school,  where  he  is  said  to  have  been  quiet  and 
diligent.  As  he  was  intended  for  the  army,  he 
afterwards  received,  according  to  his  foster-moth- 
er's account,  instruction  in  French,  drawing,  and 
mathematics.  But  it  afterwards  appeared  that 
Thalreuter  had  not  the  slightest  tincture  of  learn- 
ing or  accomplishments  ;  indeed  he  had  made  but 
little  progress  in  the  most  elementary  parts  of  in- 
struction. He  wrote  a  bad  hand,  and  made  the 
grossest  mistakes  in  spelling.  But  when  only  fif- 
teen or  sixteen  years  of  age  he  possessed  suqiris- 
ing  knowledge  of  commercial  and  pecuniary  aflairs, 
added  to  an  inexhaustible  talent  for  the  invention 
of  the  most  various,  specious,  and  complicated  lies, 
perfect  in  their  smallest  details,  and  worked  up 
with  masterly  skill.  This  talent  was  combined 
with  and  assisted  by  a  singularly  comprehensive 
and  accurate  memory. 


JAMES    THALRKUTER.  165 

The  older  the  boy  grew  the  more  firmly  did  he 
establish  his  ascendancy  over  those  who  lived  but 
to  minister  to  his  pleasures.  He  was  on  the  most 
familiar  footing  with  his  foster-mother,  towards 
whom  he  felt  neither  affection,  respect,  nor  grati- 
tude. He  only  looked  upon  her  as  the  person 
who  was  able  to  afford  him  the  means  of  grati- 
fying his  desires.  The  baroness  on  her  side  did 
everything  she  could  to  please  her  darling.  She 
gave  her  money  with  equal  readiness  for  excur- 
sions and  pleasure  parties,  and  for  the  payment  of 
his  debts,  or  of  any  damage  he  might  have  willfully 
done.  Nothing  in  the  house  remained  closed  or 
secret  from  him :  he  had  free  access  even  to  the 
closet  in  which  the  baroness  kept  her  money.  In 
short,  the  blind  love  of  his  foster-mother  rendered 
him  absolute  master  of  her  person  and  property. 
"  He  did  what  he  liked  with  the  baroness,"  says 
one  of  the  witnesses,  "  sometimes  by  fair  and 
sometimes  by  foul  means."  His  conduct  to  the 
poor  weak  old  baron,  who  was  now  seventy  years 
of  age,  and  who  had  treated  him  like  his  own  child, 
was  the  worst  of  all.  He  never  mentioned  his 
foster-father  but  in  terms  of  contempt ;  even  in 
the  presence  of  others  and  in  the  public  streets  he 
addressed  to  him  the  most  degrading  insults  ;  nay 
more,  some  witnesses  had  even  seen  him  strike  the 
old  man. 

Thalreuter  employed  the  liberty  with  which  his 
foster-mother  indulged  him,  not  only  in  making 
considerable  debts  on  her  account,  but  also  in 
plundering  her  to  a  large  amount.  He  carried 
away  a  number  of  things  out  of  the  house,  and  at 
short  intervals  of  time  stole  from  her  bureau,  to 
the  keys  of  which  he  had  free  access,  as  much  as 
700  florins.  Wlien  the  baroness  at  length  dis- 
covered this  deficiency,  she  determined  to  let  her 
foster-son  feel  the  whole  weight  of  her  displeasure, 


166  REMARKABLE    CRIMINAL    TRIALS. 

but  she  soon  relented,  forgave  liim  this  youthful 
peccadillo,  and  merely  took  the  precaution  of 
keeping  the  keys  of  her  bureau  out  of  his  way  for 
the  future.  This  circumstance,  added  to  the  re- 
flection that  he  could  only  gain  possession  of 
trifling  sums  by  mere  pilfering,  led  him  to  con- 
trive a  scheme  whereby  he  hoped  to  prevail  upon 
his  foster-parents  to  place  their  whole  property 
at  his  disposal  for  the  indulgence  of  his  extra- 
vagance. 

In  the  beginning  of  the  summer  of  1825,  Thal- 
reuter  let  fall  first  some  mysterious  hints,  and  then 
some  more  definite  expressions,  with  regard  to  his 
own  birth,  by  which  he  said  that  he  was  destined 
to  be  something  very  different  from  what  he  now 
appeared.  The  inquisitive  old  baron  was  forced 
to  content  himself  with  the  information  that  he, 
Thalreuter,  was  the  son  of  a  noble  count,  but  in  a 
confidential  moment  he  disclosed  the  vvondei'ful 
secret  to  his  foster-mother.  He  told  her,  with 
tears  of  joy,  that  "  he  was  the  son  of  the  reigning 

duke  of  B ;   that  his  father  had  already  lost 

one  son  by  j^oison,  and  lest  this  should  happen  to 
him  also,  the  duke  had  had  him  conveyed,  as  soon 
as  he  was  born,  to  Colonel  von  Reschei',  his  es- 
pecial favorite,  who  had  undertaken  to  bring  up 
his  grace's  second  son.  Von  Rescher  had  accord- 
ingly passed  for  his  father,  and  had  observed  the 
most  inviolable  secresy."  He  related  many  other 
circumstances ;  talked  about  a  certain  Count  von 

Rosenthal,  and  a  General  von  D ,  and  spoke 

with  the  greatest  affection  of  a  certain  Lieut.- 
Colonel  vonHautbing,  also  afavoriteof  the  reigning 
duke,  who  had  acquainted  Thalreuter  with  his  real 
origin. 

Notwithstanding  the  improbability  of  the  whole 
of  this  story,  which  stood  in  direct  contradiction 
with  all  that  the  Strom  waiters  knew  of  Thalreuter 's 


JAMES    THALREUTER.  1G7 

real  origin— and  they  even  possessed  his  certificate 
of  birth — the  weak  heads  of  the  worthy  couple 
were  too  easily  turned  by  the  grandeur  of  the 
romance,  and  the  desire  of  increasing  their  limited 
means,  not  to  give  implicit  belief  to  the  tale.  From 
time  to  time  Thalreuter  showed  to  Baron  or 
Baroness  Stromwalter  letters,  always  brought  to 
himself,  from  his  royal  father  the  duke,  or  from  the 
imaginary  Von  Hautbing.  In  one,  the  foster- 
parents  were  thanked  for  their  care  of  the  boy  ;  in 
another,  10,000  ducats  and  many  other  fine  things 
were  promised  as  a  reward  for  their  services  :  the 
time  of  his  grace's  arrival  was  said  to  draw  near, 
by  which  the  good  foster-parents  would  be  deprived 
of  their  darlins;-  James.  On  one  occasion  Von 
Hautbing  announced  the  arrival  of  some  money  : 
on  another,  specious  excuses  were  sent  to  account 
for  the  non-arrival  of  this  sum,  which,  however, 
might  very  shortly  be  expected.  All  these  letters, 
of  which  there  were  about  twenty  from  his  grace 
alone,  were  such  illegible  scrawls,  and  so  wretched 
in  composition  and  style,  that  the  merest  schoolboy 
could  not  have  failed  to  detect  the  imposture.  But 
the  very  circumstance  of  the  letters  being  so  illeg- 
ible afforded  young  Thalreuter  the  excuse  for 
always  reading  them  himself  aloud  to  his  foster- 
mother,  and  he  thus  had  the  opportunity  of  ex- 
plaining away  any  momentary  doubts  which  might 
arise  in  her  mind.  Before  long  Thalreuter  ap- 
peared with  a  costly  present  of  six  strings  of  fine 
large  pearls  from  his  ducal  father  for  his  dear 
foster-mother,  which  was  acceptable  not  only  as  an 
ornament,  but  also  on  account  of  its  supposed  value, 
to  Baroness  von  Sti'omwalter,  who  was  much  em- 
barrassed for  want  of  money.  Thalreuter  pre- 
vented his  foster-parents  and  others  fi-om  having  the 
pearls  examined  by  persons  competent  to  form  an 
opinion  of  their  real  value,  by  representing  how 


168  REMARKABLE   CRIMINAL    TRIALS 

offensive  such  a  proceeding  would  be  to  his  grace. 
They  were  accordingly  letl  in  pledge  with  different 
people  for  several  hundred  florins.  The  fad  that 
Thalreuter  had  bought  mock  pearls  at  a  toy-shop 
for  one  florin  and  thirty  kreutzers  (about  2s.)  the 
string,  with  money  he  had  stolen — which  was  dis- 
covered when  the  case  came  before  the  court — 
remained  carefully  concealed  from  these  simpletons. 
A  small  jewel-case,  containing  a  pair  of  earrings, 
also  a  present  from  the  imaginary  duke,  and 
bought  with  Baroness  von  Stromwalter's  own 
money  at  the  same  toy-shop,  gi'eatly  contributed,  if 
indeed  anything  had  still  been  wanting,  to  confirm 
the  belief  of  the  Stromwalter  family  in  the  distin- 
guished origin  of  their  foster-son.  Thalreuter's 
inexhaustible  fertility  in  lying  kept  the  credulous 
old  people  in  a  constant  state  of  excitement.  He 
one  day  showed  them  a  miniature  of  an  officer 
covered  with  orders  as  the  portrait  of  the  duke ; 
on  another  he  brought  them  landscapes,  which  he 
said  were  views  of  the  estates  purchased  by  the 
duke  to  reward  his  foster-parents.  One  day  when 
the  baroness  returned  to  the  house,  Thalreuter 
met  her,  exclaiming  that  "  it  really  was  most  un- 
lucky that  neither  she  nor  the  assessor  had  been 
at  home  ;  for  that  he  had  at  length  seen  his  royal 
father,  who  had  driven  up  with  four  horses,  and 
had  wished  to  speak  to  them,  but  could  not  wait, 
as  he  was  forced  to  continue  his  journey  immedi- 
ately." On  another  occasion  Thalreuter  told  old 
Stromwalter  that  Hautbing  was  staying  at  the 
Swan  Inn,  and  wished  to  speak  to  him  that  evening. 
He  tlien  gave  him  a  note,  in  which  Hautbing 
cordially  invited  Von  Stromwalter  to  crack  a  bottle 
of  champagne  with  him.  The  old  baron  hastened 
to  di'ess  himself  in  his  best  suit,  in  order  to  pay 
his  respects  to  the  envoy  of  the  duke,  but,  before 
the  appointed  hour  was  come,  Thalreuter,  appar- 


JAMES    THALREUTER.  169 

ently  fresh  from  the  Swan,  brought  tlie  message, 
with  many  excuses  and  compliments,  that  Haut- 
bing  had  been  compelled  to  set  out  upon  urgent 
business,  at  a  moment's  notice. 

This  extraordinary  tissue  of  lies,  transparent  as 
it  was,  served  nevertheless  completely  to  blind  the 
Strom  waiters  ;  and  Thalreuter,  not  satisfied  with 
being  treated  with  increased  indulgence  and  more 
liberally  supplied  with  money  than  before,  in  his 
character  of  a  prince  in  disguise,  was  encouraged 
by  the  complete  success  of  his  first  stratagem,  to 
attempt  another  still  more  profitable.  He  accord- 
ingly communicated  to  the  baroness,  as  a  profound 
secret,  that  the  Von  Wallers,  a  distinguished,  rich, 

and  noble  family  in  the  town  of ,  pui'posed  to 

arrange  a  marriage  between  their  daughter  and 
Lieutenant  von  Stromwalter,  and  that  the  betrothal 
had  already  taken  place,  and  everything  would  now 
be  speedily  concluded.  Now  Herr  von  Waller 
had  never  said  a  word  of  the  matter  to  Baron  or 
Baroness  von  Stromwalter,  nor  had  the  lieutenant 
ever  mentioned  it  in  his  letters  to  his  parents. 
Nay,  more  ;  the  Von  Wallers  were  almost  strangers 
to  the  Sti'omwalters,  and  did  not  now  make  the 
slightest  overtures  towards  a  nearer  acquaintance. 
But  Thalreuter  assured  his  foster-parents  that  the 
nature  of  the  transaction  made  it  indispensable 
to  its  success  that  they  should  behave  as  if  they 
knew  nothing  at  all  about  the  marriage — that  Hen- 
von  Waller  was  bent  upon  taking  "  papa  and 
mamma"  by  suqjiise.  The  foolish  old  people  gave 
ready  belief  to  this  most  palpable  lie,  because  the 

Duke  of  B ,  Herr  von  Hautbing,  and  General 

D wished     them  joy,    in    successive    letters 

forged  by  Thalreuter,  of  the  highly  advantageous 
match  between  their  son  and  Fraulein  von  Waller, 
Thalreuter  had  now  brought  his  foster-parents  to 
the  point  he  desired. 

P 


170  REMARKABLE    CRIMINAL    TRIALS. 

Ere  long  he  informed  the  baroness  that  her  son 
the  lieutenant  must  now  jiay,  previous  to  his  mar- 
riage, into  the  military  fund  the  sum  of   10,000 
florins    (required  in  the  army  as  a  security  for  a 
man's  ability  to  support  a  wife) ;  that  his  father  the 
duke  intended  to  pay  the  greater  j)art  of  this  sum, 
and  that  he  expected  the  parents  to  contribute  only 
a  few  thousand    florins.     The  credulous    mother, 
overjoyed  at  the  prospect  of  her   son's   man-iage, 
without  a  moment's  hesitation  delivered   2700  flo- 
rins into  the  hands  of  this  young  rogue,  who  in  a 
very  short  time  squandered  the  whole  sum  in  reck- 
less extravagance.     Not  long  after  this  Thalreuter 
brought  the  intelligence  that  Lieutenant  von  Strom- 
waiter  had  had  the  misfortune  to  be  aiTested  for 
seditious  practices,  and  that  his  release  from  prison 
could  only  be  effected  by  depositing  securities  to  the 
amount  of   1000  florins.      The  baroness,  terrified 
and    distressed,   again  delivered  to  the   disguised 
prince  1000  florins  for  the  release  of  her  son.     Soon 
after,  Thalreuter  informed  her  that  young  Strom- 
waiter   was  involved  in  most  pressing  pecuniary 
difficulties,     and    required    immediate    assistance. 
The  fond  mother  immediately  sold  a  quantity  of 
furniture  in  order  to  raise  the  required  sum,  which 
she   intrusted  to   Thalreuter.     A  second  and  still 
more    serious    embarrassment    of  the   lieutenant, 
which  unless  instantly  relieved  must  break  off"  his 
marriage,  filled  her  with  anxiety,  and  levied  a  fresh 
contribution  on  her  purse;  —  a  girl,  according  to 
Thalreuter's  assertion,  was  with  child  by  the  lieu- 
tenant, and  money  was  immediately  required  to 
satisfy  her,  and  to  prevent  the  affair  from  reaching 
the  ears  of  the  Von  Waller  family.     This  inven- 
tion put  several  hundred  florins  into  Thalreuter's 
pocket.     Another  time  he  extracted  money  on  pre- 
tence of  buying  ornaments  for   the  bride.     The 
supposed  marriage  of  the  lieutenant  also  served  as 


JAMES    THALREUTER.  171 

an  excuse  for  taking  a  good  deal  of  furniture  out 
of  the  Strom  waiters'  house  to  set  up  the  young 
couple,  which  Thalreuter  sold  on  his  own  account. 
We  may  well  ask  how  it  was  that  neither  Baron 
von  Stromwalter  nor  his  wife  thought  of  visiting 
the  Von  Wallers,  so  as  at  any  rate  to  sound  them 
about   the  marriage.      The  old  baron  did  indeed 
once  express  an  intention  of  so  doing ;  but  Thal- 
reuter employed  all  his  eloquence  to  prevent  him, 
and  drew  such  a  picture  of  the  danger  which  his 
visit  would  bring  upon  the  intended  marriage,  that 
the  weak  old  man  gave  up  the  intention,  and  aban- 
doned himself  with  blind  confidence  to  the  guid- 
ance and  direction  of  a  boy  of  fifteen.     Again,  we 
may  ask  how  it  was  that  the  sou  had  so  little  com- 
munication with  his  parents,  that  the  latter  did  not 
write  to  ask  him  a  single  question  concerning  his 
marriage  ?     How  was  it  that  the  parents  suspected 
nothing  when  their  own  son  never  let  fall  a  word 
on   such   important    subjects    as   his    approaching 
marriage,  the  money  required  as  a  deposit,  his  im- 
prisonment, his  love  affair,  his  emban-assments,  and 
the  money  which  was   sent  to   satisfy    all   these 
claims'?      Thalreuter   provided  against    this    also. 
He  intercepted  all  letters  from  the  parents  to  the 
son,  and  fi-om  the  son  to  the  parents,  or  he  vn-ote 
in  the  name  of  the  mother  letters  to  suit  his  pur- 
pose, which  she,  without  even  reading  them,  con- 
firmed by  the  addition  of  a  few  lines  in  her  own 
handwriting.     One  letter  fi-om  the   lieutenant,  in 
which  he  requested  his  mother  to  inform  him  of 
the  truth  or  falsehood  of  the  reports  of  Thalreu- 
ter's  unheard-of  extravagance  which  had  reached 
him  at  D ,  was,  in  spite  of  Thalreuter's  precau- 
tions, given  to  old  Baroness  von  Stromwalter  in  his 
presence.     He  no  sooner  saw  the  handwriting  than 
he  snatched  the  letter  out  of  her  hand,  and  wrote  in 
her  name  an  answer  to  it,  in  which  he  disclosed  to 


172  REMARKABLE    CRIMINAL    TRIALS. 

the  lieutenant  the  secret  of  his  high  birth.  Bar- 
oness von  Stromwaltcr,  who  was  not  allowed  to  read 
the  letter,  added  these  words  :  "  Tims  writes  your 
loving  and  astonished  mother,  who  rejoices  in  the 

prospect  of  going  to    I) with  James's   father 

to  embrace  her  beloved  son."  The  son  was  thus 
deceived  with  the  aid  of  his  own  mother,  and  Thal- 
reuter  did  not  fail  to  nourish  his  hopes  and  expec- 
tations by  letters  addressed  to  hiin  from  time  to 
time. 

Baroness  von  Stromwalter  met  the  enonnous 
expenditure  caused  by  Thalrcuter's  knavery  and 
extravagance  by  selling  out  of  the  funds,  borrowing 
money,  and  selling  or  pawning  her  jewels,  furni- 
ture, &c.  Thalreuter  employed  other  means  of 
obtaining  money  at  his  foster-parents'  expense. 
He  placed  before  them  a  paper,  the  written  con- 
tents of  which  he  covered  with  his  hand  or  with 
a  book,  and  requested  them  to  oblige  him  with 
their  seal  and  signatures :  this,  he  added,  was 
merely  in  jest,  and  he  wanted  their  signature  to 
this  paj^er  in  order  secretly  to  prepare  for  them  a 
very  great  pleasure.  Hereupon  the  papers  were 
signed  and  sealed  without  more  ado.  It  appeared 
on  examination  that  these  papers  were  bills  of 
exchange  for  50,  Gl,  200,  or  275  florins,  which 
Thalreuter  instantly  contrived  to  get  exchanged. 
There  was  nothing  in  the  house  which  the  foster- 
son  did  not  steal  if  it  suited  him  to  sell  or  to  give 
it  away.  Chairs  and  tables,  plate,  copper  and  tin 
utensils,  glass,  clothes,  bedding,  pictures,  clocks, 
watches,  telescopes,  snuff-boxes  and  every  sort  of 
article,  even  to  a  mousetrap,  were  mentioned 
among  the  list  of  things  he  had  carried  away  under 
various  pretences.  If  he  wanted  to  inake  a  pres- 
ent of  the  baron's  Cremona  fiddle  to  any  one,  it 
was  always  that  convenient  nobody  Lieut.-Colonel 
von  Hautbing  who  wished  to  play  upon  it;  if  he 


JAMES    THALREUTER.  173 

cast  his  eyes  upon  a  hot-water  bottle,  Fraulein  von 
Waller  suffered  fi-om  violent  spasms,  and  it  was 
immediately  sent  to  her.     After  having  plundered 
his  foster-parents  of  all  their  money,  he  proceeded 
to  squander  the  little  landed  property  which  still 
remained  to  them.     He  persuaded  his  foster-mother 
to  sell  her  small  estate  of  Schwaig,  asserting  that 
the  sale  would  only  be  a  simulated  one ;  that  Von 
Waller  was  the  real  purchaser,  and  would  give  it 
as  a  man-iage  portion  to  his  daughter.      The  sale 
took    place,   and  the  few   thousand    florins    went 
mostly  in  the  payment  of  old  debts  :   of  the  little 
that  remained,  Thalreuter  took  650  florins  for  him- 
self, as  he  pretended  to  help  the  son  out  of  fi-esh 
difficulties.     The  old  foster-mother  still  possessed 
a  few  tithes  and  I'ents ;  these  too  were  sold  soon 
after,  and  the  few  hundred  florins  which  remained 
to  her  after  the  payment  of  debts  were  delivered 
into  Thalreuter's  hands.     The  old  baroness  now 
became  anxious  about  the  state  of  her  property. 
Her  capital  was  either  gone  or  intrusted  to  Thal- 
reuter, and  the   constantly  recurring  necessity  of 
borrowing  money  or  pawning  her  effects,  proved 
to  her  how  desperate   her  condition    really  w^as. 
But  Thalreuter  was  too  good  a  chancellor  of  the 
exchequer  not  to  be  able  to  quiet  his  faithful  parlia- 
ment by  a  skillfully  contrived  budget,  and  he  assur- 
ed Baroness  von  Strom  waiter  that  her  property  had 
never  been  in  so  flourishing  a  condition  as  it  was 
then.     He  made  out  an  accurate  statement  of  her 
possessions  (including  the  estate  of  Schwaig  which 
Lad  been  sold,  and  10,000  ducats  promised  by  the 
duke),  according  to    which  they  amounted  to  at 
least  70,000  florins :  this  Statement  completely  re- 
lieved all  her  anxieties.     The  last  and  worst  trick 
he   played  these  unfortunate  old  people,    was  to 
make  them  believe  that  his  royal  father  had  just 
bought  them  a  splendid  house,  or  rather  palace,  in 

p2 


174  REMARKABLE    CRIMINAL    TRIALS. 

the   town  of  A ,  in  which  they  were  to  pass 

the  rest  of  their  lives.  Without  so  much  as  inquir- 
ing into  the  existence  of  this  palace,  the  chiltlish  old 
people  instantly  gave  notice  that  they  should  quit 
the  house  they  then  rented,  and  began  to  look 
forward  with  joyful  impatience  to  the  next  Can- 
dlemas, 1826,  when  they  expected  the  whole  mys- 
tery to  be  unraveled,  and  their  fortunes  to  be 
established.  Meanwhile  Thalreuter,  who  by  his 
last  lie  had  cheated  his  poor  foster-parents  of  the 
very  roof  over  their  heads,  took  care  that  their  re- 
moval should  not  be  troublesome.  Under  pretence 
of  furnishing  the  new  palace  a  little  beforehand, 
he  carried  oft'  most  of  the  few  aiticles  of  furniture 
that  were  left,  a  yellow  damask  sofa,  six  chairs, 
&c.,  which  we  need  scarcely  inform  our  readers 
soon  found  their  way  into  the  pawnln-oker's  shop. 
The  money  thus  obtained  was  squandered  in 
the  most  reckless  and  foolish  extravagance.  He 
entertained  his  acquaintances,  who  were  men  of 
the  lowest  class,  in  the  most  sumptuous  manner  at 
different  inns  and  taverns ;  the  most  costly  wines 
were  not  alone  poured  out  like  water  at  the  table, 
but  thrown  into  the  adjacent  ponds  and  dashed 
against  the  carnage-wheels ;  the  most  delicate 
viands  were  thrown  out  of  the  window  for  boys  to 
scramble  for ;  splendid  fireworks  were  let  off  to 
amuse  the  guests,  among  wliom  he  distributed  all 
kinds  of  expensive  presents  with  the  greatest  pro- 
fusion. One  witness  even  stated  that  on  one  occa- 
sion he  moistened  the  wheels  of  the  carriage  he 
had  hired  with  eau  de  Cologne.  The  toyman 
Stang,  who  w-as  (though  not  entirely  by  his  own 
fault)  the  constant  companion  of  Thalreuter  and 
partaker  in  his  extravagant  parties  of  pleasure, 
sold  him,  in  one  year,  goods  to  the  amount  of  6700 
florins,  among  which  were  fifty  florins'  worth  of 
eau  dc  Cologne. 


JAMES    TllALRKUTER.  175 

This  way  of  life  could  not  fail  to  lead  him  into 
other  kinds  of  mischief,  and  accordingly,  in  April, 
1825,  he  was  taken  up  in  a  drunken  brawl  and 
charged  with  assault  and  battery,  but  acquitted, 
owing  to  want  of  e\'idence :  two  months  after, 
he  and  several  accomplices  were  tried  for  poach- 
ing. 

The  company  which  Thalreuter  kept  was  as 
low  as  his  own  manners,  consisting  chiefly  of 
coachmen,  gi'ooms,  &c. ;  the  only  man  with  any 
pretension  to  respectability  with  whom  he  asso- 
ciated was  Stang,  the  toyman,  who  on  first  wit- 
nessing the  boy's  extravagance  thought  it  his  duty 
to  report  it  to  Baroness  von  Stromwalter,  but  she 
replied,  "that  the  expenditure  of  her  James  would 
not  appear  surprising  whenever  the  secret  of  his 
birth  and  rank  should  be  revealed;  that  at  present 
she  could  only  say  thus  much,  that  he  was  the  son 
of  very  gi'eat  parents  and  would  have  more  prop- 
erty than  he  could  possibly  spend  :"  she  concluded 
by  saying  "  that  she  was  very  glad  that  her  James, 
who  had  hitherto  associated  only  with  peasants 
and  coachmen,  should  have  chosen  so  good  a  com- 
panion and  adviser  as  Stang,"  The  poor  toyman 
was  of  course  overjoyed  at  the  thought  of  having 
secured  the  friendship  and  custom  of  a  prince  in 
disguise,  and  no  longer  felt  any  hesitation  in  ac- 
cepting Thalreuter's  presents  and  joining  his  par- 
ties of  pleasure,  and  from  this  time  forward  they 
became  almost  daily  companions. 

Thakeuter's  conduct  naturally  attracted  the  at- 
tention of  the  authorities  of  the  town,  but  as  the 
usual  explanation  was  given  to  them  by  his  fos- 
ter-parents, of  course  they  could  do  nothing  but 
look  on  and  await  the  solution  of  the  mystery. 

Nor  did  they  wait  long.  Thalreuter  owed  70 
florins  for  coach-hire  to  a  man  of  the  name  of  Block, 
whom  he  had  promised  to  pay  at  the  end  of  the 


176  REMARKABLE    CRIMINAL    TRIALS. 

year  1825.  On  the  29th  or  30th  December,  Block 
went  in  search  of  his  debtor,  whom  he  found  in  a 
tavern,  and  demanded  his  money.  Thah'euter  in- 
stantly pulled  a  check  out  of  his  pocket  and  showed 
it  to  his  creditor,  saying  that  it  was  drawn  in  his 
favor  for  450  florins  by  the  advocate  Dr.  Schroll, 
that  he  was  going  to  get  it  cashed  and  would  then 
pay  the  debt.  The  coachman  Block  conceived 
some  suspicion,  and  immediately  informed  Dr. 
Schroll  of  the  whole  affair.  The  latter  declared 
before  the  local  authorities,  on  the  5th  January, 
1826,  that  he  had  never  held  any  communication 
whatever  with  Thalrcuter,  much  less  given  him  an 
(jrder  for  money,  and  that  he  demanded  an  exami- 
nation into  the  matter,  as  a  draft  in  Thalreuter's 
favor  must  be  forcjed. 

In  consequence  of  this  accusation  upon  oath,  a 
search-waiTant  was  issued,  and  Thalreuter  arrested 
on  the  11th  January.  Early  next  morning  Baro- 
ness von  Stromwalter  hastened  to  the  court  and 
begged  that  her  fostei'-son  might  speedily  be  set 
free.  "It  was  indeed  true,"  said  she,  "that  he 
had  robbed  her  at  vainous  times  of  sums  amount- 
ing to  not  less  than  700  florins,  but  that  she  had 
forgiven  him  this  offence  long  ago,  and  did  not 
wish  him  to  be  called  to  account  for  it."  She  at 
the  same  time  declared  herself  ready  and  willing 
to  be  answerable  to  the  whole  extent  of  her  prop- 
erty for  any  injury  he  might  have  done  to  a  third 
party.  She  said  that  she  had  already  paid  700 
florins  for  him,  and  offered,  without  hesitation,  to 
pay  all  his  fresh  debts,  which  might  amount  to  a 
few  hundred  florins  more,  and  then  all  that  had 
happened  might  be  as  though  it  had  never  oc- 
curred. But  the  astonishing  confessions  which 
Thalreuter  made  at  his  first  examination  soon  in- 
duced the  baron  and  baroness  to  alter  their  tone, 
and  to  represent  themselves  as  unfortunate  victims, 


JAMES    THALREUTER.  177 

who  had  slept  securely  on  the  brink  of  a  precipice 
and  were  only  awakened  by  their  fall.  They  now 
declared  that  they  had  always  believed  their  fos- 
ter-child to  be  the  son  and  heir  of  the  reigning 
Duke  of  B ,  but  that  now  he  had  himself  con- 
fessed that  he,  whom  they  had  treated  like  their 
own  son,  had  deceived  them  in  the  most  shameful 
manner,  and  had  cheated  and  plundered  them  of 
all  their  possessions,  and  even  of  their  good  name, 
and  reduced  them  to  absolute  beggary ;  that  they 
accordingly  renounced  all  their  parental  duties 
towards  him,  and  left  him  to  justice  and  to  his 
well-merited  fate.  In  spite  of  this  declaration, 
hopes  from  time  to  time  re^dved  in  them  that  this 
manifest  reality  might  after  all  be  only  an  illusion, 
and  that  the  duke  might  at  last  appear  as  a  deus 
ex  machina  to  release  his  darling  son  fi-om  durance 
vile,  and  them  from  want  and  misery. 

Thalreuter  confessed  with  the  utmost  frankness, 
but  vdthout  the  slightest  remorse  or  compassion 
for  his  poor  old  foster-parents,  not  only  the  forgery 
of  the  draft  upon  Dr.  Schroll,  but  also  of  an  order 
upon  a  bank  for  445  florins,  which,  however,  he 
said,  was  not  intended  to  be  presented.  He  like- 
wise recounted  the  long  series  of  deceits  and  thefts 
which  he  had  practised  upon  his  foster-parents  ; 
but  it  was  impossible,  accurate  as  Thalreuter's  me- 
mory was,  to  ascertain  the  precise  amount  of  that 
which  he  had  robbed  from  them,  as  he  very  natu- 
rally had  kept  no  accounts.  The  old  Baron  von 
Stromwalter  could  give  no  information  whatever 
vrith  regard  to  the  state  of  his  own  affairs,  and  re- 
ferred everything  to  the  superior  knowledge  of  his 
wife ;  and  she,  who  had  blindly  committed  every- 
thing to  the  hands  of  her  James,  had  nothing  to 
trust  to  but  the  vague  and  general  impressions  on 
het  own  weak  memoiy.  Thus  much,  however,  is 
certain,  that  diu'ing  little  more  than  one  year,  Thal- 
12 


178  REMARKABLE    CRIMINAL    TRIALS. 

reuter,  by  vax'ious  dishonest  means,  got  from  them 
between  6000  and  8000  florins. 

Such  a  varied  and  ingenious  tissue  of  falsehoods, 
such  a  compUcation  of  deceits  so  long  and  so  suc- 
cessfully practised  by  a  boy  of  fifteen  upon  two 
old  people  of  rank  and  education,  seemed  impos- 
sible without  advisers  and  accomplices  ;  and  accor- 
dingly Thalreuter,  with  the  same  apparent  frank- 
ness with  which  he  had  confessed  his  own  crimes, 
now  met  the  questions  of  the  judge  by  the  assertion 
that  Stang,  the  toyman,  had  persuaded  him  to  the 
forgery  of  all  the  false  documents,  that  he  had  dic- 
tated the  false  bank  order,  and  fabricated  the  royal 
seal  upon  it,  and  that  he  had  devised  the  scheme 
for  cheating  his  foster-parents  and  had  assisted  in 
the  execution  of  it.  That  among  other  things, 
Stang  had  once  appeared  at  Baron  von  Stromwal- 
ter's,  dressed  in  a  brilliant  uniform  and  covered 
with  orders,  and  had  given  himself  out  as  an  envoy 
from  Thalreuter's  pretended  father.  He  added 
that  a  considerable  part  of  the  money  thus  obtained 
had  been  employed  by  Stang  in  increasing  his  bu- 
siness and  enlarging  his  shop,  and  also  that  many 
of  the  things  stolen  from  his  foster-parents  had 
fallen  to  the  share  of  Stang ;  and,  not  content  with 
these  accusations,  he  charged  Stang  with  being  a 
cheat  and  a  forger  by  trade,  with  carrying  on  a  re- 
gular fabrication  of  forged  drafts,  lottery  tickets, 
exchequer  bills,  and  tontine  scrip,  and  with  selling 
plated  articles  stamped  with  the  mark  of  real  silver. 
All  these  charges  were  supported  by  detailed 
statements  of  specific  facts.  Thus,  for  instance, 
he  enumerated  a  long  list  of  bills  forged  by  Stang, 
specifying  the  persons  by  whom  they  pui-ported  to 
be  drawn,  the  houses  on  which  they  were  drawn, 
the  persons  who  accepted  them,  and  the  time  when 
the  bills  were  negotiable,  accompanying  his  state- 
ments with  so  many  minute  circumstances  that  it 


JAMES    TIIALREUTER.  179 

would  have  been  easier  to  doubt  the  Hglit  of  the 
sun  at  noonday  than  the  truth  of  his  assertions. 
At  every  fresh  examination  these  charges  were 
strengthened  by  new  disclosures  or  new  accusa- 
tions, which,  according  to  Tlialreuter,  recurred  by 
degrees  to  his  memory.  Among  other  things  Thal- 
reuter  even  asserted  that,  in  order  to  open  a  fresli 
supply  to  the  failing  resources  of  the  Von  Strom- 
waiters,  Stang  had  proposed  to  poison  Baroness 
von  Stromwalter's  rich  brother,  and  that  he  had 
prepared  the  poison,  which  he  kept  in  a  bottle  in  a 
place  which  Thalreuter  described. 

Stang,  a  married  man,  and  the  father  of  a  family, 
was  not  exactly  the  sort  of  person  whom  one  would 
suspect  of  such  actions.  He  maintained  himself, 
to  all  appearance  honestly,  by  his  business,  which 
he  had  greatly  extended  by  his  activity,  cleverness, 
and  economy,  and  which  was  quite  sufficient  to 
support  himself  and  his  family  respectably.  But 
previous  to  the  establishment  of  his  toy-shop,  which 
had  happened  within  a  few  years,  his  life  had  not 
been  altogether  free  from  suspicion.  He  was 
originally  a  tailor,  and  then  entered  the  sei-vice  of 
a  merchant,  who  discharged  him  in  a  short  time, 
and  gave  him  but  a  doubtful  character.  He  then 
wandered  about  the  country  as  a  conjuror.  It  was 
notorious  that  Thalreuter  and  Stang  were  contin- 
ually together,  and  that  the  latter  took  part  in  all 
Thalreuter's  dissipations,  and  also  that  he  lorded  it 
in  the  Stromwalters'  house.  Moreover  it  appeared 
impossible  for  a  lad  of  fifteen  to  have  conceived  or 
executed  all  that  has  been  ali'eady  related,  without 
assistance ;  and  Thalreuter's  frank  confession  af- 
forded sufficient  gi'oimd  for  presuming  that  Stang 
was  his  accomplice,  and  for  aiTOSting  him  accord- 
ingly- 

Thalreuter's    accusations    were    not,    however, 

confined  to  Stang ;  several  other  persons  figured 


180  REMARKABLE    CRIMINAL    TRIALS. 

in  this  story  as  accomplices  in  a  gi'eater  or  less  de- 
gree. Wolositz,  a  wealthy  Jewish  merchant,  was 
pointed  out  by  him  as  the  receiver  of"  Stang's  bills, 
knowing  them  to  bo  forged  ;  and  the  accusation 
was  sujiported  by  a  statement  of  circumstances 
which  gave  it  every  appearance  of  truth.  He  lik(!- 
wiso  named  an  innkeeper  called  lirechtal,  as  one 
intimately  associated  in  all  Stang's  criminal  secrets, 
and  whose  business  it  was  to  travel  about  and  pass 
these  forgeries  in  the  disguise  of  an  officer.  Thal- 
reuter  accused  both  those  men,  but  more  especially 
Brechtal,  of  instigating  him  to  rob  and  cheat  his 
foster-parents,  and  stated  that  he  had  bought  for 
the  latter  out  of  the  stolen  money  a  horse,  a  butt  of 
wine,  &c. ;  and  that  inside  of  this  butt,  hung  a 
small  watertight  baiTel,  in  which  Brechtal  kept 
Stanfj's  forcjed  bills.  Wolositz  and  Brechtal  were 
accordingly  taken  into  custody,  and  four  other  per- 
sons were  involved  in  the  same  suspicion  by  Thal- 
I'euter's  charges. 

In  order  to  obtain  proofs  of  the  truth  of  the  va- 
rious charges,  and  to  secure  the  articles  designated 
by  Thalreuter  as  belonging  to  the  Stromwalters, 
the  houses  of  the  suspected  parties  were  searched  ; 
Stang's  house  repeatedly,  for  no  sooner  was  one 
search  ended  than  Thalreuter  prepared  some  new 
charge  against  Stang  which  rendered  a  fresh 
search  necessary.  Thalreuter,  who  was  present 
on  these  occasions,  employed  himself  in  pointing 
out  to  the  authorities  either  those  things  which 
belonged  to  his  foster-parents,  or  had  been  bought 
with  their  money,  or  the  materials,  proofs,  and  in- 
struments of  the  various  forgeries.  Each  search 
led  to  fresh  discoveries  on  Thalreuter's  part,  until 
at  length  the  rooms  appropriated  to  the  purpose 
were  crowded  with  effects  of  all  sorts.  In  Stang's 
private  dwelling  the  authorities  seized  silver 
spoons,  tin   and    copper   utensils,   glasses,  bottles 


JAMES    THALREUTKR.  181 

and.  jai'b,  napkins  and  table-covers,  bedding,  chil- 
dren's toys,  and  even  articles  of  clothing,  such  as 
Stang's  boots  and  trowsers.  Out  of  his  shop  they 
took  all  sorts  of  objects  of  the  supposed  plated 
material,  and  other  articles  of  value,  watches,  lace, 
buckles,  telescopes,  eye-glasses,  ladies'  reticules, 
rouge-boxes,  cosmetics,  scented  pomatums  and 
soaps.  The  innkeeper  Brechtal  fared  no  better  : 
they  took  from  him  his  gun  and  a  pair  of  water- 
proof boots  (for  Brechtal  was  also  a  shoemaker) ; 
his  horse  out  of  the  stable,  and  all  the  wine  out  of 
his  cellar. 

While  these  domiciliary  ^^sits  were  going  on, 
the  jailer  one  day  discovered,  while  changing 
Thalreuter's  prison,  seventeen  florins  concealed 
in  his  straw  mattress.  On  examination,  Thalreu- 
ter  confessed  that  he  had  taken  th-e  opportunity  of 
one  of  these  visits  at  Stang's  house,  to  steal  this 
sum  out  of  his  writing-desk.  When  asked  how 
this  was  possible,  as  one  of  the  officers  of  the 
court  constantly  had  his  eye  upon  him,  he  replied 
that  the  presence  of  the  officer  had  not  prevented 
his  gaining  possession  of  the  money  by  a  slight  of 
hand  which  he  had  learnt  from  Stang  himself 

When  the  charg^es  atrainst  Stang^  and  others 
came  to  be  sifted,  many  of  them  proved  to  be 
utterly  false.  A  lottery  ticket  found  in  Stang's 
possession,  and  denounced  as  a  forgery,  was  pro- 
nounced at  Frankfort  to  be  genuine  :  several  bills 
which  he  was  accused  of  having  forged  and  put  in 
circulation,  were  never  presented.  It  was  more- 
over discovered  that  no  such  firms  existed  as  those 
on  which  some  of  the  other  bills  were  said  to  have 
been  drawn.  When  this  was  represented  to  Thai- ' 
reuter  on  his  twelfth  examination,  he  not  only  re- 
tracted a  great  part  of  his  accusation  against  Stang, 
but  declared  his  whole  statement  about  Wolositz 
and  the  four  others,  who  were  most  respectable 

Q 


182  REMARKABLE    CRIMINAL    TRIALS. 

persons,  to  be  sheer  calumny.  His  motives  for  mak- 
ing all  these  false  chai'ges  were  various.  One 
had  excited  his  hatred  at  a  fight,  another  had 
abused  him  ;  a  third  had  found  fault  with  his  con- 
duct behind  his  back,  while  a  fourth  had  laughed 
at  his  bad  riding.  Stang  and  Brechtal  did  not  get 
out  of  the  scrape  quite  so  easily,  but  every  step  in 
the  inquiry  was  the  means  of  discovering  some 
fresh  falsehoods,  more  especially  with  respect  to 
Stang.  For  example,  all  the  articles  which  Thal- 
reuter  had  asserted  to  be  plated  were  found  to  be 
real  silver :  many  of  the  things  said  to  have  belong- 
ed to  Baroness  von  Stromwalter  were  not  hers,  but 
were  proved  to  have  been  long  in  the  possession  of 
Stang  and  his  family.  The  small  secret  barrel 
concealed  in  Brechtal's  butt  of  wine  never  could 
be  found,  and  the  bottles  said  to  contain  poison 
for  Baroness  von  Stromwalter's  rich  brother  were 
filled  with  most  innocent  scent  and  hair-oil. 
Thalreuter,  however,  retracted  only  so  much  of 
his  accusation  against  Stang  as  was  proved  to  be 
false,  and  although  forced  to  declai'e  one  charge 
after  another  to  be  mere  inventions,  he  still  per- 
sisted through  several  examinations  in  accusing 
his  boon  companion  of  enough  to  ensure  him  an 
imprisonment  of  several  years  with  hard  labor. 
It  was  not  until  his  twenty-second  examination 
that  he  declared  all  his  accusations  against  Stang 
to  be  pure  inventions  dictated  by  revenge,  adding 
that  he  could  never  forgive  Stang  for  taking  advan- 
tage of  his  youthful  inexperience,  and  encouraging 
him  in  all  his  debaucheries  and  excesses.  But 
these  excuses  for  his  false  accusations  were  also 
false.  In  his  twenty-sixth  examination  he  was 
compelled  to  retract  even  this,  and  to  own  that  he 
had  no  other  reason  for  involving  Stang  in  this 
criminal  prosecution,  than  that  Stang  liad  charged 
him  too  much  for  his  wares :  neither  had  he  any 


JAMES    THALREUTER.  183 

cause  for  accusing  Brechtal,  beyond,  that  he  had 
occasionally  scored  a  double  reckoning  against 
him. 

Thus  it  was  proved  beyond,  doubt  that  this 
young  villain  not  only  had  no  assistance  in  effect- 
ing the  ruin  of  his  old  foster-parents,  beyond  that 
of  his  own  wit  and  the  weakness  and  simplicity  of 
the  old  people,  but  that  he  had  also  used  the  crim- 
inal court  itself  as  a  stage  upon  which  further  to 
display  his  instinctive  talent  for  stealing  and  lying. 

Those  innocent  persons  who  had  been  taken 
into  custody  upon  Thalreuter's  accusations  were 
immediately  released.  Thalreuter,  in  considera- 
tion of  his  youth,  was  sentenced,  on  the  25th  Sep- 
tember, 1826,  to  eight  years'  imprisonment  with 
hard  labor,  for  his  forgeries,  thefts,  and  other  de- 
ceits. He  was  to  receive  twenty-five  lashes  on  his 
entrance  into  prison  as  a  further  punishment,  and 
to  have  warm  food  only  on  every  third  day.  Di- 
rections were  also  given  that  this  young  criminal 
should  receive  all  necessary  instruction,  and  that 
the  greatest  attention  should  be  paid  to  his  moral 
and  religious  training. 

Fortunately  for  the  community  and  for  himself, 
Thalreuter  did  not  outlive  the  term  of  his  im- 
prisonment. He  died  in  1828,  in  the  Bridewell 
at  Munich. 


THE    KLEINSCHROT    FAMILY; 

OR, 

THE  PARRICIDES  OF  THE  BLACK  MILL. 


Upon  a  streamlet  called  the  Sittenbach,  which 
runs  at  the  bottom  of  a  narrow  glen  enclosed  with- 
in steep  mountains,  stands  the  lonely  Schwarz 
Miihle,  or  Black  Mill,  at  about  340  paces  from  the 
last  house  in  the  neighboring  village.  The  miller, 
Frederick  Kleinschrot,  a  strong,  powerful  man  of 
about  sixty,  lived  there  until  the  9th  August,  1817: 
he  and  all  his  family  were  Protestants.  His  busi- 
ness was  a  thriving  one,  and  his  property,  as  was 
subsequently  proved,  amoimted  to  a  capital  of 
13,577  florins.  He  had  been  man-ied  for  thirty 
years,  and  had  had  twelve  children  by  his  wife 
Barbara,  five  of  whom  were  still  living.  His  eld- 
est son,  Leonard,  was  settled  as  a  master  miller  at 
a  distance,  but  the  second  and  third  sons,  Conrad 
and  Frederick,  the  former  twenty-eight  and  the 
latter  twenty-three  years  of  age,  lived  in  their 
father's  house,  the  one  managing  the  farm,  and 
the  other  assisting  his  father  in  the  mill.  The  two 
daughters,  Margaret  Barbara,  aged  twenty-three, 
and  Kunigunda,  aged  eighteen,  supplied  tlie  place 
of  maid-servants. 

In  the  farm-yard  belonging  to  the  mill,  and  not 
above  twenty  paces  distant  from  it,  was  a  separate 
cottage,  rented  at  a  low  rate  by  a  day-laborer  of 
the  name  of  John  Adam  "Wagner.  In  addition  to 
his  rent,  he  was  bound  to  work  for  the  millt^"  when 


THE    KLEIXSCHROT    FAMILY.  185 

required  to  do  so,  for  six  kreutzers  a-day  and  his 
food. 

Besides  the  miller's  family  and  that  of  the  day- 
laborer,  a  stable-boy  of  about  thirteen  lived  at  the 
mill.  Ho  slept  in  a  distant  stable,  so  that  he  could 
hear  nothing  that  took  place  there  by  night. 

On  the  9th  August,  1817,  the  master  miller  dis- 
appeared. It  was  not  until  the  11th  October  of 
the  same  year  that  his  wife  informed  the  provincial 
magistrate  that  her  husband  had  left  his  home  nine 
weeks  ago,  taking  with  him  all  the  ready  money, 
and  that  they  were  without  any  tidings  of  him. 
She  requested  that  he  might  be  publicly  adver- 
tised, which  was  accordingly  done,  but  without 
success,  and  that  all  outstanding  claims  might  be 
called  in.  The  property  of  the  absent  man  was 
accordingly  put  into  the  hands  of  trustees  ap- 
pointed by  the  court. 

About  a  year  after  his  disappearance,  it  was 
rumored  abroad  that  he  had  been  murdered  in 
the  Black  Mill.  The  report  no  doubt  arose  out  of 
suspicious  expressions  uttered  by  Wagner  to  one 
of  his  fellow-laborers  of  the  name  of  Wiedman. 
One  day  when  he  was  angry  with  the  Kleinschrot 
family,  he  said  to  Wiedman,  "If  you  did  but  know 
what  I  know,  you  would  be  surprised :  if  I  were  to 
tell  of  the  miller's  family,  the  mill  would  be  shut 
up,  and  they  would  all  go  to  prison.  If  I  want 
money,  they  must  give  it  me  ;  and  if  I  want  the 
cottage,  they  must  give  me  that  too." 

On  the  1st  Septembei-,  1818,  Metsieder,  a  gen- 
darme, informed  the  provincial  court  of  this  ex 
pression  of  Wagner's.  Suspicion  was  further  in- 
creased by  the  knowledge  of  the  domestic  quar- 
rels which  had  constantly  taken  place  in  the  Black 
Mill,  and  by  the  strangely  embanassed  manner  of 
the  miller's  family  and  of  Wagner  and  his  wife  to- 
wards him  (the  informer). 

a2 


180  REMARKABLE    CRIMINAL    TRIALS. 

The  provincial  magistrate  had  been  aheady 
made  aware,  by  former  proceedings,  of"  tlie  bitter 
animosity  subsisting  between  Kleinschrot  and  his 
family.  Two  months  before  his  disappearance  the 
old  man  had  laid  a  complaint  before  the  magistrate, 
that  his  wife  and  sons  had  possessed  themselves  of 
his  keys  and  his  money,  and  assumed  the  whole 
management  of  the  house  and  mill.  That  they  had 
ceased  to  treat  him  with  reverence,  or  to  obey  his 
orders,  and  had  even  threatened  him  with  blows. 
The  wife  and  children,  on  the  other  hand,  replied 
that  the  plaintiff  was  a  profligate  spendthrift  who 
neglected  all  the  duties  of  a  husband  and  a  father, 
and  wasted  his  substance  on  low  women.  The 
magistrate  ordered  them  to  submit  to  him  as  the 
head  of  the  family,  and  to  restore  to  him  the  lawful 
control  over  his  own  household.  But  on  the  follow- 
ing day  the  miller  complained  to  the  magistrate  that 
his  family  would  not  abide  by  the  decision  of  the 
court,  and  that  his  children  had  actually  struck  him. 
A  commission  was  accordingly  sent  to  reinstate  old 
Kleinschrot  in  his  rights  as  head  of  the  house. 
But  even  in  the  presence  of  the  commissioners,  the 
family  expressed  the  bitterest  hatred  towards  him, 
and  declared  their  settled  determination  to  obtain 
redress  from  justice  for  his  extravagance,  profligacy, 
and  cruelty. 

These  and  other  circumstances,  added  to  the 
statement  of  the  gendarme,  were  sufficient  grounds 
for  a  serious  inquiry.  The  provincial  judge  of  the 
district  took  steps  evincing  great  zeal  in  this  mat- 
ter. On  the  very  night  in  which  this  infoiTnation 
reached  him,  he  caused  Wagner  and  Wicdman  to 
be  arrested,  and  went  in  person  to  the  Black  Mill, 
to  examine  the  miller's  wife  and  her  sons.  Wied- 
raan  repeated  before  the  court  the  expression  used 
by  Wagner,  which  we  have  already  mentioned,  and 
the    common    rumor   that  Kleinschrot   had    been 


THE    KLEIN SCIIKOT    FAMILY.  187 

murdered  in  his  mill,  and  that  Wagner  had  help- 
ed to  hury  the  body  in  the  saw-mill.  On  the  other 
hand,  Wagner  and  the  miller's  family  maintain- 
ed that  old  Kleinschrot  had  privately  absconded. 
The  elder  of  the  parish,  who  was  examined  as  to 
the  chai'acter  of  the  Kleinschrot  family,  declared 
that  he  knew  nothinor  against  either  them  or  Waq:- 
ner  ;  and  a  shepherd  of  the  name  of  Sperber  stated, 
that  during  the  hay  harvest  of  1817  he  had  been 
employed  by  Kleinschrot  to  accompany  him  to  a 
neighboring  village,  and  to  cany  a  bag  of  money, 
which  from  its  weight  must  have  contained  at  least 
2000  florins.  Hereupon  the  proceedings  were  ab- 
ruptly stopped.  Wiedman  was  not  examined  upon 
oath,  the  miller's  daughters  were  not  questioned  at 
all,  and  no  search  was  made  in  the  saw-mill,  which 
rumor  pointed  out  as  the  spot  in  which  the  body 
had  been  buried.  The  provincial  judge,  contrary 
to  his  bounden  duty,  sent  no  report  of  the  case  to 
the  central  tribunal,  and  thus  the  matter  rested  for 
three  whole  years. 

In  the  autumn  of  1821  the  provincial  judge  of 
the  district  was  suspended  from  his  office  on  sus- 
picion of  malversation.  A  commission  was  sent 
by  the  central  court  to  direct  the  inquiry  into  his 
conduct,  and  to  install  his  successor.  The  com- 
missioner had  scarcely  commenced  the  inquiry, 
when,  on  the  night  of  the  11th  November,  a  fire 
broke  out  in  the  record  chamber,  which  was  kept 
constantly  locked,  and  the  greater  part  of  the  records 
were  destroyed,  to  the  exti'eme  injury  of  many 
members  of  the  community.  Suspicion  immediate- 
ly fell  upon  the  suspended  magistrate,  who  had 
an  especial  interest  in  the  destruction  of  records 
which  might  betray  his  malpractices,  and  who 
moreover  was  alone  able  to  effect  it.  The  com- 
missioner was  directed  to  inquire  into  the  origin 
of  the  fire,  and  with  the  view  of  discovering  fresh 


188  REMARKABLE    CRIMINAL    TRIALS. 

cause  of  suspicion,  and  of  confirming  those  already 
existing,  he  set  on  foot  a  rigid  examination  of  the  re- 
cords which  had  escaped  the  flames,  in  order  to  dis- 
cover those  which  the  suspended  magistrate  might 
have  had  a  pecuUar  interest  in  destroying.  Dur- 
ing the  course  of  his  research  he  found  a  small 
volume  of  documents  i-elating  to  the  appointment 
of  trustees  for  the  management  of  the  absent 
miller's  property.  The  rumor  that  Kleinschrot 
had  been  murdered  by  his  own  family,  and  that 
the  magisti'ate  had  received  a  considerable  bribe 
from  them  for  letting  the  inquiry  drop  and  hushing 
up  the  whole  affair,  reached  the  commissioner's 
ears  at  the  same  time.  On  further  search,  several 
other  papers  connected  with  the  proceedings  were 
discovered. 

These  were  sufficient  gi'ounds  for  fresh  investiga- 
tion, and  on  the  6th  December,  1821,  Wiedman's 
evidence  was  taken  on  oath,  and  Wagner  and  Anna 
his  wife  were  summoned  as  witnesses.  Wiedman 
repeated  his  former  statement  :  Wagner  renewed 
his  assurances  that  he  did  not  know  what  had  be- 
come of  the  miller ;  but  his  wife  immediately  con- 
fessed "  that  in  August  or  Septembei',  1817,  the 
miller's  sons  tried  to  persuade  her  husband  to  assist 
them  in  getting  rid  of  their  father  :  that  she  would 
not  suffer  it,  but  that  the  sons  never  ceased  ursjingf 
him,  till  at  last  her  husband  went  one  night  into 
the  miller's  bedroom,  and  helped  the  sons  to  miu'der 
him  ;  whereupon  the  body  was  buried  in  the  cleft 
of  a  rock  near  a  field  belonging  to  the  miller." 
John  Wagner,  who  in  the  meantime  had  been  given 
in  charge  to  a  gendarme,  in  order  to  prevent  any 
communication  between  himself  and  his  wife,  was 
examined  afresh,  and  the  following  confession  ex- 
tracted from  him  : — 

Old  Kleinschrot,  who  was  a  mud  husband  and 
father,  and  a  man  of  most  abandoned  habits,  lived 


THE    KLEINSCHROT    FAMILY.  189 

in  constant  enmity  with  his  family.  One  morning 
in  September,  1817,  his  son  Conrad  informed  him 
(Wagner)  that  the  Kleinschrot family  had  determin- 
ed to  put  their  father  to  death  on  the  following 
night,  in  oi'der  to  save  themselves  from  utter  ruin. 
Conrad  promised  to  provide  for  him  if  he  would 
assist  them  in  the  deed,  and  told  him  how  it  was 
to  be  accomplished.  After  much  hesitation  he 
(Wagner)  agi-ecd.  Conrad  fetched  him  at  night, 
and  with  the  help  of  the  younger  brother  Frederick, 
they  murdered  the  old  man  in  the  kitchen.  The 
body  was  first  buried  in  the  saw-mill,  but  was  after- 
wards carried  away  from  thence,  thrown  into  the 
cleft  of  a  rock  in  a  field  called  the  Krumacker,  and 
covered  with  earth  and  stones.  The  miller's  wife 
and  daughters  were  privy  to  the  murder. 

On  the  7th  December,  the  court  resolved  upon 
the  provisory  airest  of  the  miller's  family,  and 
proceeded  that  very  evening  with  a  proper  guard 
to  the  Black  Mill,  where  the  whole  family  were 
found  saying  gi-ace  after  supper.  When  the  prayer 
was  ended,  the  warrant  of  arrest  was  shovni  to 
the  miller's  vdfe  and  her  two  sons  :  every  member 
of  the  family  was  then  arrested,  and  confined  sep- 
arately. The  mother  and  her  two  sons  were  ex- 
amined on  the  spot,  but  confessed  nothing.  They 
asserted  that  all  they  knew  was  that  Kleinschrot  had 
been  gone  for  some  years,  they  knew  not  whither. 

On  the  following  day  Wagner  was  fetched  from 
the  pi'ison  to  show  where  the  body  of  the  murdered 
man  had  been  buried.  He  led  the  authorities  up  a 
steep  ascent  to  the  left  of  the  mill,  and  across  sev- 
eral fields,  till  they  came  to  a  cleft  among  some 
rocks,  which  Wagner  pointed  out  as  the  spot. 
After  removing  several  loose  stones,  they  came  to 
some  leaves  and  moss,  whereupon  AVagner  re- 
marked "  that  they  must  now  be  near  the  body." 
Under  the  layer  of  leaves  and  moss  were  found 


190  REMARKABLE    CRIIVUXAL    TRIALS. 

some  tattered  scraps  of  linen,  part  of  a  skull,  seve- 
ral ribs,  and  other  bones,  which  the  physicians  pro- 
nounced to  be  those  of  a  man.  Wlien  these  were 
taken  out  of  the  cleft,  Wagner  said,  "  These  must  be 
the  bones  of  the  murdered  Frederick  Kleinschrot 
of  the  Black  Mill,  for  his  sons  brought  his  body 
here  in  my  presence  four  years  ago,  and  threw  it 
into  this  cleft ;  we  then  covered  it  with  leaves  and 
moss.  Moreover,  Kleinschrot  had  remarkably  fine 
teeth,  just  like  those  in  the  jaw-bone  before  us." 

The  miller's  children  were  then  led  separately, 
one  after  the  other,  first  to  the  place  where  the 
bones  had  been  deposited,  and  then  to  the  cleft  in 
the  rock.  As  soon  as  Com-ad  saw  the  bones,  he 
exclaimed,  before  a  question  was  asked,  "  That  is 
my  father  !"  and  added,  after  a  pause,  "  but  I  am 
not  the  murderer."  Fi"ederick  looked  at  them 
without  betraying  emotion  or  a  embaiTassment,  and 
on  being  asked,  "What  are  these?"  answered, 
"  Why,  what  should  they  be  but  bones ;  but  whe- 
ther of  a  man  or  a  beast  I  cannot  say ;  I  do  not 
know  the  difference."  The  youngest  daughter, 
Kunigunda,  cried  out  when  led  to  the  cleft,  "  I 
know  nothing  about  this:  I  know  that  about  my 
father,  but  of  what  happened  up  here  I  know  no- 
thing ;  I  am  innocent,  completely  innocent."  When 
it  came  to  the  turn  of  the  eldest  dausrhter,  Margra- 
ret,  she  exclaimed,  "  I  am  innocent  of  the  deed,  I 
am  innocent.  I  knew  nothing  about  it  till  I  heard 
my  father's  dreadful  scream,  and  then  it  was  too 
late.  I  have  never  had  a  moment's  peace  since. 
Oh,  God  !  what  will  become  of  us  ?" 

Thus,  then,  a  mystery  was  brought  to  light  which 
had  been  concealed  for  so  many  years — a  murder 
committed  by  a  hired  assassin  on  the  person  of 
the  miller,  in  which  his  wife,  sons,  and  daughters 
were  all  more  or  less  concerned  as  instigators  or 
accomplices. 


THE    KLEINSCHROT    FAMILY.  191 

Barbara,  the  wife  of  the  murdered  man,  and  the 
daughter  of  a  miller,  was  born  on  the  8th  of  Ajiril, 
1764.  Her  parents  were,  as  the  clergyman  ex- 
pressed it,  "  equally  wanting  in  head  and  heart." 
Her  memory  and  powers  of  comprehension  were 
so  defective  that  she  could  retain  nothing  at  school. 
The  little  intellect  she  had  ever  possessed  was  so 
much  impaired  by  the  constant  ill-usage  she  had 
received  from  her  husband  during  her  long  and 
unhappy  marriage,  that  she  occasionally  sank  into 
a  state  of  stupidity  bordering  on  idiocy.  Her 
husband's  constant  complaint  was,  that  he  bad  a 
wife  so  stupid  that  she  could  not  manage  her 
ovm  household.  All  the  witnesses  concurred 
in  describing  her  as  a  kind-hearted,  patient, 
well-meaning  woman,  and  of  spotless  life  and  rep- 
utation. 

The  same  was  said  of  her  children  by  the  cler- 
gyman and  many  other  witnesses,  who  unani- 
mously praised  their  piety,  integi'ity,  goodness, 
gentleness,  love  of  order,  and  industry.  But  they 
were  all  deficient  in  intelligence,  extraordinai-ily 
ignorant  of  everythincf  which  did  not  concern  their 
own  immediate  occupation,  and  filled  with  the 
grossest  superstition.  They  believed  ghosts  and 
witches  to  belong  to  the  natural  order  of  things. 
For  instance,  they  Avei'e  firmly  persuaded  that  Wag- 
ner's wife  was  a  witch,  and  Frederick  took  some 
trouble  to  convince  the  judge  of  it.  As  positive 
proof  of  the  truth  of  his  assertion,  he  related  how, 
after  refusing  her  something,  she  had  plagued  him 
unmercifully  with  the  nightmare  on  the  following 
night,  and  how  she  had  once  in  his  presence  drawn 
circles  round  a  haycock  with  her  rake,  muttering 
strange  words  the  while,  whereupon  a  whirlwind 
suddenly  seized  the  haycock,  lifted  it  high  into 
the  air,  and  bore  it  away  as  far  as  his  eyes  could 
reach,  which  plainly  must  have  been  witchcraft,  as 


192  REMARKABLE    CRIMINAL    TRIALS. 

the  Other  haycocks  remained  quietly  standing  in 
their  places. 

Old  Kleinschrot  was  described  as  a  man  of  con- 
siderable talent  and  inlbrmalion  for  his  station  in 
life,  and  as  a  good  manager  in  a  certain  sense.    He 
sent  his  children  to  school  and  communicated  reg- 
ularly twice  a  year  :  but  his  character  was  in  every 
respect  the  very  reverse  of  that  of  his  kind-hearted 
wife    and    well-disposed    children.       Coarseness, 
cruelty,  brutal  violence,  quarrelsomeness,  and  nig- 
gardliness,   excepting    where    his    own    pleasures 
were  concerned,  were  the  principal  ingredients  ot 
his  repulsive  and  hateful  character.     He  was  an 
unnatural  son,  and  had  frequently  raised  his  im- 
pious hand  against  his  father,  and  forced  him  to 
take   refuge  from  his  violence  behind  locks  and 
bolts.     The  son  who  ill-treated  his  own  father  was 
still  less  likely  to   spare  either  wife  or  children, 
whom  he  looked  upon  as  creatures  born  to  seiTe 
and  sufter  under  him.     All  his  children  on  leaving 
school  became  his  menial  servants,   and   fulfilled 
their  household  duties  with  care  and  fidelity ;  in 
spite  of  which  ho  refused  them  decent  clothing, 
and  allowed  them  and  their  mother  to  suffer  the 
greatest  privations,  moi-e  especially  whenever  he 
left  home  for  several  days,  on  which  occasions  he 
left  them  no  money  for  their  daily  wants.     His  ill- 
humor  vented  itself  not  only  in  abuse,  but  in  ac- 
tual violence.     The  peasant  Roll,  who  had  lived 
for  twelve  months  in   Kleinschrot's  service  about 
twenty   years    before,   stated   that   the   old   miller 
never  let  a  day  pass  without  quan-elling  with  and 
beating  his  wife  and  sons,  who  were  then  boys. 
In  his  fury  he  seized  the  first  weapon  that  came 
to  hand.     He  once  struck  his  wife   such  a  blow 
with  an  axe  that  she  had  her  arm  in  a  sling  for 
fourteen  days.      The  daughter  Margaret  asserted 
that  her  mother  had  lost  half  her  wits  from  a  blow 


THE    KLEINSCHROT    FAMILY.  193 

on  the  head  which  she  received  from  her  husband 
some  fifteen  years  ago.  The  old  miller's  kept 
mistress,  Kunigunda  Hopfengiirtner,  who  had 
formerly  served  at  the  Black  Mill,  had  once  been 
})resent  when  the  miller  flung  a  hatchet  at  his  son 
Frederick,  which  must  inevitably  have  killed  him, 
had  he  not  started  forward,  so  that  it  only  grazed 
his  heel.  The  schoolmaster  once  saw  him  beat 
his  wife  and  children  with  a  bar  of  iron. 

The  children,  who  beheld  in  their  father  only 
the  tormentor  and  oppressor  of  their  suffering 
mother,  drew  closer  around  her,  and  formed  a  de- 
fensive league  among  themselves,  united  by  affec- 
tion for  the  oppressed  and  bitter  hatred  towards 
the  oppressor.  The  children  felt  bound  to  pro- 
tect their  mother,  and  to  assist  each  other  against 
the  common  enemy,  whom  they  not  only  hated, 
but  also  despised  ;  for  they  knew  that  their  father, 
notwithstanding  his  age,  constantly  associated  with 
the  lowest  women,  by  whom  he  had  several  illegit- 
imate children,  and  upon  whom  he  wasted  his 
money,  while  his  rightful  children  were  suffering 
want.  Kunigunda  Hopfengartner,  a  worthless 
creature  who  was  sent  to  the  house  of  correction 
soon  after  Kleinschrot's  disappearance,  had  been 
kept  by  him  for  years,  and  declared  him  to  be  the 
father  of  her  illegitimate  child,  born  on  the  7th 
April,  1817.  When  it  was  known  at  the  mill  that 
she  was  with  child  by  old  Kleinschrot,  all  the 
children,  with  the  exception  of  the  youngest  daugh- 
ter, rose  up  against  him,  and  the  quarrel  reached 
such  a  pitch  that  the  two  sons,  Conrad  and  Fred- 
erick, came  to  blows  \vith  him ;  one  witness  stated 
that  Margaret,  on  being  attacked  by  her  father, 
snatched  up  a  pitchfork  with  the  words,  "  You  old 
rascal,  if  you  come  near  me  I  will  stick  it  into 
your  ribs."  This,  however,  she  strenuously  de- 
nied. 


194  REMARKABLE   CRIMINAL    TRIALS. 

In  order  fully  to  understand  the  character  of  the 
murdered  man,  and  the  terms  on  which  he  lived 
with  his  family,  it  is  necessary  to  hear  the  descrip- 
tion which  the  wife  and  children  gave  of  him. 
"  You  cannot  think,"  said  the  wife,  "  what  a  bad 
man  my  hushand  was.  He  knocked  my  poor 
head  about  till  I  quite  lost  my  memoi-y.  Once 
when  he  had  knocked  us  down,  my  son  Frederick 
and  1  lay  all  night  bleeding  at  the  head  in  the 
hay-loft.  He  was  a  mischievous  man,  as  all  who 
knew  him  can  testify :  he  ill-used  me  as  no  one  else 
would  use  a  beast,  and  for  no  possible  cause  :  he 
was  always  particulat-ly  savage  at  the  holy  times 
of  Christmas  and  Easter,  and  his  fiiiy  against  every 
one  then  knew  no  bounds ;  formerly  too  he  used 
to  go  by  night  to  the  place  where  four  roads  meet, 
and  where  they  say  three  things  are  to  be  got — 
money,  or  help  in  fighting,  or  something  else,  and 
I  therefore  believe  that  my  husband  stood  in 
communication  with  the  Evil  One."  The  eldest 
son,  Conrad,  drew  the  following  picture  of  his 
father.  "  My  father  was  a  savage  man  who  never 
treated  us  as  his  children,  nor  even  called  us  his 
children,  but  always  rogues  and  thieves.  When  I 
was  twelve  years  old  he  ill-used  me  and  left  me  ly- 
ing in  the  mill  quite  senseless,  and  I  bear  the  maik 
of  one  of  his  blows  over  my  right  ear  to  this  day, 
where  there  is  a  scar  and  no  hair.  Once  during 
harvest  he  beat  me  over  the  loins  so  that  I  was 
obliged  to  crawl  home  and  leave  the  horses  stand- 
ing in  the  field.  I  lay  in  bed  for  two  whole  days 
after  it,  and  my  father  was  cruel  enough  to  forbid 
my  mother  to  give  me  any  food,  as  I  earned  no- 
thing. No  servant  could  stav  with  him ;  he  had 
three  or  four  in  the  course  of  the  year,  so  that  my 
brother  and  I  had  to  do  all  the  work,  and  we  did 
it  willingly.  Every  one  will  allow  that  we  have 
5mpr(jved    our    prouerty  by  our  industry  to   the 


THE    KLEINSCIIROT    FAMILY.  195 

amount  of  1000  florins  and  more;  and  yet  he  was 
never  satisfied  and  constantly  abused  us,  and  said 
that  we  cost  him  more  than  we  earned.  He  never 
gave  us  clothes,  and  we  went  about  in  rags.  But 
ill  as  he  treated  us,  he  treated  our  poor  mother 
far  worse.  He  was  a  monster  in  every  respect ; 
■♦he  could  not  endure  our  mother,  called  her  by  the 
vilest  names,  and  fi-equently  beat  her  so  that  she 
lay  in  bed  for  days  :  she  beai's  the  marks  of  his 
cruel  treatment  on  her  body  to  this  day.  Some- 
limes  he  kicked  and  beat  her  till  she  was  so  cov- 
ered with  blood  that  no  one  could  have  recognised 
her.  Thus  Ave  lived  in  constant  fear  of  our  lives. 
INIeanwhile  he  had  three  illegitimate  children  by 
women  upon  whom  he  spent  the  money  which 
my  mother  had  brought  him  at  their  maniage,  for 
all  the  property  was  hers.  We  should  have  sought 
our  living  elsewhere  long  ago,  but  that  we  must 
then  have  left  our  mother  exposed  alone  to  our 
father's  cruelty.  At  length  we  sought  for  pro- 
tection from  justice,  but  found  none.  Had  he 
been  like  any  other  father,  he  might  have  been 
happy  with  his  children,  for  we  were  honest, 
industrious,  and  well-conducted,  as  everybody 
knows.  But  he  was  a  monster  whose  only  pleas- 
ure was  in  tormenting  others.  He  often  beat  his 
own  father,  who  endeavored  to  secure  himself  by 
six-fold  bolts  and  locks,  as  you  may  see  in  the  mill 
to  this  day,  as  well  as  the  marks  of  the  hatchet 
with  which  he  tried  to  break  open  the  door  into 
the  room  where  my  grandfather  had  taken  refuge, 
although  it  is  now  above  twenty  years  ago." 

The  youngest  son,  Fredei-ick,  expressed  himself 
much  in  the  same  manner.  "  He  was  not  a  father, 
but  a  monster,  who  hated  us  from  our  youth  up, 
and  almost  killed  our  mother  by  ill-usage.  His 
whole  way  of  life  was  a  shame  and  a  disgrace  to 
us :    we   had  plenty  of  quarrels  and  blows  from 


196  REMARKABLE    CRIMINAL    TRIALS. 

morninfT  to  night,  and  but  little  food  or  clothing'. 
Six  months  before  he  was  put  out  of  the  way,  my 
father  dealt  me  such  a  blow  on  the  head  with  a 
hoe,  that  the  blood  ran  down  into  my  shoes,  and  the 
wound  did  not  heal  for  three-quarters  of  a  year : 
the  scar  is  still  there.  Once  when  I  was  leaving 
the  mill  I  hcai'd  dreadful  screams  from  the  kitchen, 
and  on  going  in  I  found  my  father  striking  my 
mother  with  a  hatchet  and  threatening  to  kill  her. 
He  would  certainly  have  murdered  her  but  for  me, 
for  she  was  bleeding  violently.  I  ran  forwards, 
wrenched  the  hatchet  out  of  his  hands,  and  held 
him  until  my  mother  had  escaped.  I  then  let  go 
of  him  and  ran  away,  but  not  till  I  had  received 
one  blow  on  the  loins  and  another  on  the  arm, 
which  prevented  my  working  for  several  days. 
IVIy  mother  and  I  slept  that  night  in  the  barn,  as 
we  did  not  dare  return  to  the  house.  My  mother's 
body  is  covered  with  scars.  My  father's  life  was 
scandalous,  and  had  been  so  from  his  youth.  He 
had  many  illegitimate  children,  although  his  lawful 
ones  were  already  grown  up  ;  we  even  found  him 
in  bed  with  our  maid-servant.  He  stole  money 
from  his  father  to  spend  in  these  profligate  courses. 
A  short  time  before  his  father's  death,  as  I  well 
reinember,  he  seized  the  old  man  by  the  feet  and 
drasjored  him  down  the  stairs  and  out  at  the  mill- 
door,  so  that  his  head  was  bruised  and  battered 
and  covered  with  blood.  Such  was  the  monster 
we  had  as  a  father.  Alas !  ever  since  we  were 
born  we  have  never  known  peace ;  while  our 
father  lived  we  were  tortured  by  him,  and  now 
since  his  death  we  are  tortured  by  our  con- 
sciences." 

It  is  true  that  these  statements  were  made  by 
the  murderers ;  but  the  coincidence  of  their  testi- 
mony with  the  character  given  of  the  old  miller  by 
other  impartial  witnesses,  leaves  no  doubt  of  their 


THE    KLEINSCHROT    FAMILY.  197 

truth  :  indeed  it  is  only  on  the  supposition  of  such 
a  father  that  we  can  comprehend  how  a  wife  and 
children,  praised  by  all  for  their  kindness  and 
integrity,  could  be  driven  to  commit  so  fearful  a 
crime.  He  was  himself  the  cause  of  all  that  befel 
him,  and  must  be  held  morally  answerable  for  a 
large  share  of  the  heavy  guilt  of  the  murder.  His 
fate  appears  but  as  the  act  of  avenging  justice.  He 
who  had  ill-treated  and  struck  his  own  father  fell 
by  the  hands  of  an  assassin  hired  by  his  own 
children. 

The  following  account  of  murder  and  of  its 
immediate  cause  is  compiled  from  the  confessions 
of  the  murderers. 

The  mother  and  sons  had  several  times,  in 
their  impatience  to  be  freed  from  their  intolerable 
domestic  oppression  and  misery,  given  utterance, 
even  in  the  presence  of  strangers,  to  ideas  of 
murder.  Once,  about  a  year  or  even  longer  before 
the  murder,  one  of  the  sons  said  to  John  Schuster, 
a  forester  who  accidently  came  to  the  mill,  "  that 
he  only  wished  he  would  shoot  his  father  for  a 
roebuck  ;"  and  the  mother  added  that  "  he  should 
not  then  need  to  buy  flour  for  some  time  to  come." 
Schuster  did  not  know  whether  this  was  meant  in 
jest  or  earnest,  and  went  away  without  answering 
a  word.  One  evening,  before  Wagner  lived  in  the 
cottage  near  the  mill,  a  laborer  of  the  name  of 
Frederick  Deininger  was  at  work  for  the  miller's 
family,  and  one  of  the  sons  said  to  him,  "  ^V^loever 
would  put  my  father  out  of  the  way  should  be  well 
paid  for  the  job."  Deininger  is  said  to  have  replied 
that  he  could  not  do  it,  as  the  old  man  would  be 
able  to  master  him.  The  miller's  family  declared 
that  these  expressions  fell  from  them  in  anger 
caused  by  a  sense  of  recent  injuries,  and  not  from 
any  preconcerted  scheme.  Thus  much,  however, 
is  certain,  that  the  idea  of  killing  the  old  mijler 

r2 


198  REMARKABLE    CRIMINAL    TRIALS. 

was  not  strange  to  them,  and  tliat  iliey  would  have 
been  well  pleased  if  any  one  to  whom  they  had 
said  as  much  in  their  anger  had  offered  to  do  it  for 
them.  They  wished  him  to  be  killed,  but  not  by 
themselves. 

An  expression  which  the  provincial  judge  im- 
prudently repeated  several  times  tended  to 
sli'engthen  their  desire  for  the  old  miller's  death. 
When  the  sons  endeavored  to  obtain  protection 
against  the  cruelty  of  their  father,  or  complained 
of  his  extravagance,  the  judge  dismissed  them  with 
the  disheartening  observation,  "  I  can  neither  assist 
nor  advise  you  ;  you  have  a  bad  and  quarrelsome 
father ;  the  best  thing  that  could  happen  would  be 
his  death."  The  mother  and  children  concurred 
in  saying  that  these  words  made  the  deepest  im- 
pression upon  them,  and  pointed  out  to  them  the 
only  way  that  was  open  to  them.  It  was  evident 
that  nothing  was  to  be  hoj^ed  from  the  protection 
of  the  law,  and  that  there  was  no  release  for  them 
but  by  their  father's  death,  which  now  appeared  to 
them  to  be  both  necessary  and  justifiable. 

Subsequently,  when  the  girl  Hopfengaitner  ac- 
cused the  old  miller  of  being  the  father  of  her 
child,  at  which  the  irritation  of  the  miller's  family 
was  so  great  as  to  cause  the  sons  for  the  first  time 
to  lay  violent  hands  on  their  father,  these  thoughts 
took  a  sti'onfjerhold  of  their  minds  than  ever.  Just 
at  this  time  too,  unhaj^tpily  for  them,  a  man  was 
thrown  in  their  way  well  able  to  understand 
thousrhts  of  this  kind,  and  who  knew  how  to  work 
upon  men  and  to  place  their  thoughts  in  a  light 
which  deprived  them  of  nearly  all  their  hoiTor. 
This  was  Wagner,  the  day-laborer,  a  man  exactly 
fitted  to  suit  those  "who,  without  being  villains 
themselves,  stood  in  need  of  a  villain  to  do  that 
for  which  they  felt  themselves  too  faint-hearted. 
John  Adam  Wagner  was  the   son   of  a  day- 


THE    KLEINSCHROT    FAMILY.  199 

laborer,  who  was  still  living  when  the  trial  took 
place.  He  was  born  on  the  9tli  November,  1769, 
and  was  a  Lutheran.  Common  report  gave  him 
a  very  bad  character,  especially  for  cruelty.  One 
of  his  childish  amusements  consisted  in  catching 
birds,  putting  out  their  eyes,  and  then  letting  them 
fly.  He  served  first  in  the  contingent  of  an  im- 
perial city,  then  for  twenty  years  in  the  Prussian 
army,  and  in  1807  in  that  of  Bavaria.  He  after- 
wards wandered  about  Prussia,  Hanover,  and 
Bohemia,  and  returned  home  in  1808  accompa- 
nied by  a  mistress.  He  then  served  for  three- 
quarters  of  a  year  in  the  preventive  service,  after 
which  he  married  a  widow  with  two  children,  and 
supported  himself  with  difficulty  as  a  laborer. 
Those  whom  he  served  found  no  paiticular  fault 
with  him,  expecting  a  certain  unwillingness  to 
work,  owing  probably  to  his  long  military  career. 
Another  consequence  of  this  was  an  utter  want  of 
feeling  added  to  his  originally  cruel  nature,  which 
he  exhibited  in  the  most  revolting  manner  upon 
this  trial.  A  murder,  committed  with  every  pi'os- 
pect  of  concealment,  and  for  which  he  was  well 
paid,  was  no  more  to  him  than  any  other  task ;  at 
least  he  related  all  the  circumstances  of  the  horrid 
deed  as  circumstantially  and  as  coolly  as  a  laborer 
might  do  when  called  upon  by  his  master  to  render 
an  account  of  the  work  done  on  a  particular  day. 
1817,  the  year  of  Kleinschrot's  disappearance,  was 
a  year  of  famine,  and  Wagner  had  a  wife  and  four 
children  to  support,  for  whom  his  wages  were  in- 
sufficient to  buy  bread,  and  he  and  his  family  often 
went  supperless  to  bed.  AVlien,  therefore,  a  pros- 
pect was  opened  to  him  of  present  gain  and  future 
support,  he  was  ready  to  do  anything. 

It  was  Conrad  Kleinschrot's  misfortune  to  be 
constantly  thrown  into  the  company  of  this  man, 
and  while  at  work  with  him  he  often  talked  freely 


200  REMARKABLE    CRIMINAL    TRIALS. 

of  the  misery  of  his  home  and  of  his  bitter  hatred 
towards  his  father.  On  the  1st  May,  1817,  Conrad 
told  Wagner  that  his  father  had  again  left  home 
on  the  previous  night,  taking  with  him  all  the  mo- 
ney, and  that  his  mother  and  the  family  knew  not 
what  to  do.  "  The  best  would  be,"  said  Wagner, 
"  for  some  one  to  follow  him,  knock  him  on  the 
head,  and  take  away  his  money ;  it  would  be  easy 
to  kill  him  in  the  Hinterhof "  (a  dark  ravine  about 
three  miles  from  the  mill) :  "  there  he  might  lie, 
and  no  one  be  the  wiser."  Conrad  answered, 
"Dare  you  do  it]"  "To  be  sure  I  dare,"  said 
Wagner.  Conrad  then  objected  that  "a  mui'dered 
man,  especially  one  so  wicked,  would  find  no  rest 
in  his  grave,  but  would  walk  the  earth  as  a  ghost." 
But  Wagner  bade  him  be  at  ease,  for  that  "  he 
knew  how  to  lay  the  old  man." 

This  conversation  did  not,  however,  lead  to  any 
immediate  result ;  it  was  merely  an  expression  of 
the  general  feelings  and  wishes  of  the  family. 
The  same  subject  was,  however,  the  constant 
theme  of  conversation  whenever  Conrad  was  alone 
with  Wagner,  and  the  only  objections  he  raised 
were  the  possibility  of  discovery  and  fear  of  the 
old  man's  ghost.  But  Wagner  was  always  ready 
with  an  answer  to  every  scruple,  doubt,  or  fear. 

About  six  or  eight  weeks  before  the  miller's 
death  Conrad  and  Wagner  were  again  thrown  to- 
gether, and  Conrad  again  exclaimed,  "  How  lucky 
it  would  be  if  the  old  man  were  never  to  return." 
Wagner,  who  saw  that  the  family  were  not  yet 
prepared  for  violence,  endeavored  to  tempt  them 
to  an  indirect  attempt  on  their  father's  life,  and 
proposed  to  destroy  the  old  man  by  a  sympathetic 
charm.  "  He  knew,"  said  he,  "  a  piece  of  magic 
by  which  he  could  make  the  old  man  perish  like  a 
waxen  figure  within  four  weeks.  Conrad,  who 
was   as    superstitious   as   the   rest    of   his    family, 


TOE    KLEINSCHROT    FAMILY.  201 

replied,  "It  would  indeed  be  best  if  we  could  get 
rid  of  my  father  in  this  way,"  and  entered  heartily 
into  the  plan.  His  mother  had  already  consulted 
Anna  Wagner  upon  a  scheme  of  this  nature, 
and  had  given  her  a  pair  of  old  Kleinschrot's 
stockings,  which  were  to  be  hung  inside  the  chim- 
ney. The  mother  and  sons  waited  some  weeks 
hoping  that  the  black  art  would  produce  its  effect, 
but  at  length  they  informed  Wagner  that  his  magic 
had  failed.  Wagner,  who  was  not  easily  discon- 
certed, rejoined,  "  Well,  if  magic  fails,  I  must  rid 
you  of  him  by  other  means." 

On  the  7th  June,  1817,  when  old  Kleinschrot 
complained  to  the  local  authorities  of  the  conduct 
of  his  family,  he  also  petitioned  that,  to  maintain 
his  paternal  authority  and  the  order  of  his  house- 
hold, his  sons  should  be  sent  on  the  Wanderschaft;* 
and  on  seeing  that  his  sons  did  not  obey  the  verbal 
order  of  the  court,  he  I'enewed  the  request  in  writ- 
ing. The  mother  and  children  were  in  ten'or  lest 
old  Kleinschrot  should  succeed  in  this  application. 
She  could  not  endure  the  thought  that  her  sons, 
her  only  protection  against  her  husband's  cruelty, 
should  quit  her ;  and  the  sons,  between  whom  the 
greatest  unanimity  prevailed,  could  not  resolve  to 
leave  their  mother  exposed  to  the  inhuman  treat- 
ment of  their  father.  In  addition  to  this,  the  fam- 
ily were  informed  that  the  girl  Hopfengiirtner 
publicly  boasted  that  the  old  miller  was  going  to 
turn  all  his  own  family  out  of  doors  and  to  take 
her  as  his  housekeeper :  they  likewise  suspected 
that  he  intended  to  procure  a  formal  divorce  from 
his  wife. 

During  all  the  early  part  of  August  Kleinschrot 
was  busily  employed  in  his  own  chamber  in  writ- 

*  The  custom  of  traveling  for  three  years,  and  supporting 
themselves  by  occasional  work  and  sometimes  by  begguig. 

Trans. 


202  REMARKABLE    CRIMINAL    TRIALS. 

ing  something  wlii(;h  the  wife  and  her  children 
imagined  to  be  intended  against  themselves.  The 
youngest  son,  Fx'cderick,  probably  at  his  mother's 
instigation,  stole  into  his  father's  room  on  the  9th 
August  to  discover  v\fhat  he  had  been  wi-iting  all  the 
week,  and  found  a  memorial  addressed  to  the  pro- 
vincial authorities  demanding  the  removal  of  his 
wife  and  sons  from  the  mill.  Frederick  hastened 
up-stairs  with  the  paper  and  read  it  to  his  mother 
and  Conrad.  Their  consternation  was  extreme, 
especially  that  of  the  mother,  who  lamented  at  the 
thought  of  being  divorced  in  her  old  days  to  make 
room  for  a  harlot.  Wagner's  suggestion  was 
mentioned,  and  it  was  resolved  that  he  should 
mui'der  the  old  miller  on  the  following  night.  Ic 
is  not  known  who  first  gave  utterance  to  their 
common  feeling ;  in  all  probability  it  was  the 
mother;  at  least  so  Conrad  positively  asserted. 
The  mother  did  not  deny  that  she  and  her  sons 
had  consulted  together  about  putting  her  husband 
to  death  ;  but  whether,  when  the  murder  was  de- 
termined upon,  she  had  told  Conrad  that  he  might 
go  and  settle  the  matter  with  Wagner,  was  more 
than  she  could  say,  as  her  memory  was  so  defec- 
tive. She,  however,  admitted  that  if  her  sons  said 
so,  they  were  probably  right ;  she  could  no  longer 
remember  the  exact  words  in  which  she  had  con- 
sented to  her  husband's  murder ;  but  in  all  her 
confessions  she  repeated  that  the  fear  of  separa- 
tion fi'om  her  children,  and  of  being  divorced  in 
favor  of  a  worthless  woman,  had  led  her  to  say  to 
her  sons,  "  that  she  consented  to  Wagner's  being 
employed  to  kill  her  husband."  She  even  added, 
"  If  I  had  not  agi'eed  to  it,  the  murder  would  never 
have  happened ;  but  I  did  agree,  and  I  said  so  to 
my  sons." 

The  two  daughters,  Margaret  and  Kunigunda, 
had  taken  no  part  whatever  in  the  consultation 


THE    KLEINSCHROT    FAMILY.  203 

upon  the  murder.  When  it  was  ah-eady  determined, 
and  Frederick  was  leaving  tlic  room,  they  entered 
it  accidentally  and  found  Conrad  with  his  mother. 
Their  brother  then  told  them  what  was  about  to 
happen,  and,  according  to  her  own  account,  Mar- 
garet replied,  "  Do  not  do  this.  If  our  father  leads 
a  bad  life,  he  will  have  to  answer  for  it  in  the  next 
world :  let  him  live,  and  leave  him  to  his  conscience 
if  he  has  behaved  ill."  On  hearing  that  Wagner 
was  to  put  her  father  out  of  the  way  that  very 
night,  she  said  to  her  brother,  "  Do  not  suffer  it ; 
Wagner  is  a  bad  man,  who  will  bring  you  into 
trouble  in  order  to  get  money," 

Frederick,  the  younger  son,  appears  to  have 
taken  no  part  in  the  transaction  until  the  day  of 
the  murder.  He  had  no  communication  with 
Wagner,  and  did  not  remember  that  his  brother 
had  formerly  told  him  that  Wagner  had  offered  to 
rid  them  of  the  old  man.  On  the  contrary,  he  re- 
peatedly stated  that  on  the  9th  August,  after  read- 
ing the  memorial  which  he  had  found  in  his  father's 
chamber,  his  mother,  as  he  thinks,  proposed  that 
the  miller  should  be  murdered  by  Wagner  ;  where- 
upon he  had  exclaimed,  "  Oh,  mother,  that  would 
be  a  horrid  thing ;  I  would  rather  go  away  than 
that  such  a  thing  should  happen."  But  when  his 
brother  represented  to  him  that  "  if  they  two  went 
away,  the  miller  would  marry  a  worthless  woman, 
and  have  a  number  of  children,  and  waste  their 
whole  patrimony;"  and  his  mother  added,  that 
"there  was  no  help  for  it;"  he  at  length  gave  way, 
saying,  "  Well,  as  you  please,  if  you  think  it  right 
to  do  it;  I  agree  to  anything." 

When  the  matter  was  thus  settled,  Conrad  went 
out,  called  Wagner,  and  asked  him  whether  he 
would  still  undertake  to  murder  the  old  man  on 
the  following  night.  On  Wagner's  replying  in  the 
affinuative,  Conrad  promised  to  give  him  200  flo- 


204  REMARKABLE    CRIMINAL    TRIALS. 

rins  dovvTi, -and  never  to  lose  sight  of  him,  but  to 
give  him  something  every  year. 

They  passed  the  afternoon  together  in  the  fields, 
talking  the  matter  over,  and  devising  how^  the  plan 
was  to  be  carried  into  execution.  Conrad  reiter- 
ated his  former  doubts  as  to  whether  Wagner 
really  thought  it  would  succeed,  and  supposing  it 
did,  whether  his  father  would  rest  in  his  grave,  and 
whether  the  crime  might  not  be  discovered,  and 
their  lives  endangered.  Conrad  even  desired  him 
to  consult  his  wife  on  the  subject.  But  Wagner 
overi-uled  his  scniples,  and  it  was  definitely  settled 
that  the  murder  should  take  place  on  the  following 
night. 

On  the  evening  of  the  9th  August,  old  Kleinschrot 
supped  in  company  with  his  wife,  his  children,  and 
the  Wagners.  After  supper  Wagner  and  his  wife 
returned  to  their  cottage,  and  Kleinschrot  went 
into  his  bedroom,  which  communicated  with  the 
kitchen  by  a  small  flight  of  steps.  At  about  ten 
o'clock,  after  his  mother  and  sisters  were  in  bed, 
Conrad  went  to  Wagner,  and  told  him  that  every- 
thing was  quiet.  Wagner  immediately  armed 
himself  with  a  hatchet,  and  returned  to  the  mill  to 
earn  his  two  hundred  florins.  Wagner  and  Con- 
rad had  agreed  during  their  afternoon's  walk  that 
old  Kleinschrot  should  be  lured  into  the  dark 
kitchen,  and  there  killed  by  Wagner.  After  a  long 
opposition,  Frederick  consented  to  ring  the  mill 
bell,  which  would  bring  his  father  out  of  his  bed- 
room. At  first  he  refused,  as  he  knew  that  his 
father  was  in  the  habit  of  going  into  the  mill  every 
night,  and  he  thought  that  Wagner  might  wait  till 
then.  At  length,  however,  he  went  to  the  mill, 
and  rang  the  bell.  Meanwhile  Wagner  stood  be- 
side the  steps  leading  from  the  bedroom,  with  the 
axe  in  his  hand,  and  ConiTid  went  to  his  own  room, 
and  sat  on  his  bed  waiting  the  event. 


THE    KLEINSCHROT    FAMILY.  205 

Wagner  stood  with  his  hatchet  raised  and  ready 
to  strike,  when  the  mill  bell  rang  violently.  The 
old  miller  came  out  of  the  bedroom  in  his  shirt, 
and  when  he  had  reached  the  lowest  step,  Wagner 
aimed  a  blow  at  his  head  with  the  back  of  the 
hatchet.  He,  however,  missed  it  in  the  dark,  and 
struck  him  somewhere  else.  Either  from  fright 
or  pain  the  miller  uttered  a  loud  scream,  which 
was  heard  by  Conrad  and  his  mother  and  sisters 
in  their  beds,  and  endeavored  to  lam  back  into  his 
room.  But  Wagner,  having  missed  his  blow,  threw 
away  the  hatchet  and  seized  the  miller,  who  defend- 
ed himself,  occasionally  exclaiming,  "Oh  God!  oh 
God !  let  me  go,"  "  Let  me  go,  my  dear  fellow, 
and  I  will  never  injure  you  again  as  long  as  I  live." 
They  struggled  together  for  some  time,  and  such 
was  the  old  miller's  strength,  that  Wagner  at  one 
time  thought  he  should  be  overpowered  by  him. 
At  length  Wagner  remembered  that  he  had  a 
clasp  knife,  and,  loosening  his  hold  of  the  miller 
for  a  moment,  he  drew  it  out  of  his  pocket,  opened 
it  against  his  own  body,  and  thrust  the  blade  into 
the  old  man's  side. 

On  hearing  his  father  scream,  Conrad  concluded 
that  Wagner's  blow  had  failed,  and  rushed  out  of 
the  house  in  terror  ;  he  ran  round  the  saw-mill, 
but  soon  returned,  and,  on  hearing  repeated  cries 
for  help,  went  into  the  kitchen.  His  father  had 
received  the  stab,  but  still  stood  upright,  moaning. 
Conrad  took  a  log  of  wood  fi-om  the  pile  in  the 
corner  of  the  kitchen,  reached  it  to  Wagner,  and 
then  ran  out  into  the  road  to  see  if  all  was  safe. 

AVagner,  who  had  dropped  his  knife  in  the  mean- 
time, struck  the  miller  on  the  head  with  the  billet 
of  wood.  He  staggered,  and  fell  back  upon  the 
hearth. 

But  this  blow  lost  part  of  its  force,  owing  to 
Wagner's  proximity  to  his  victim,  and  the  miller 

S 


20G  REMARKABLE    CRIMINAL    TRIALS. 

Still  lived,  and  lay  gi-oaning.  Wagner  therefore 
snatched  up  a  brick  which  lay  on  the  hearth,  and 
struck  the  miller  with  it  on  the  head,  until  the 
brick  was  broken  to  pieces.  The  miller  at  length 
ceased  fi'om  moanino;-. 

Meanwhile  Conrad  had  gone  in  again,  but  he 
had  scarcely  lain  down  on  his  bed  when  Wagner 
came  and  told  him  that  his  father  was  dead,  and 
requested  him  to  bring  a  light.  Conrad  went  to 
the  mill  to  fetch  Fredex'ick,  and  the  two  brothers 
returned  to  the  kitchen  with  a  candle.  They 
found  their  father  welteiing  in  his  blood,  but  still 
breathing  faintly.  Wagner  then  asked  Fred- 
erick for  a  string:  he  gave  hiin  a  bit  which  he 
liappened  to  have  in  his  pocket,  and  went  away. 
Wagner  placed  it  round  the  miller's  throat,  intend- 
ing to  sti-angle  him,  but  did  not  tighten  it,  as  the 
old  man  was  already  dead. 

Wliile  all  this  was  going  on,  Margaret  went 
quietly  to  sleep,  and  even  after  her  father's  fearful 
scream  had  awakened  her,  she  did  not  ask  what 
had  become  of  him.  Kunigunda  also  went  to  bed 
at  about  ten  o'clock,  at  her  brother's  request,  be- 
cause, as  she  said,  she  had  done  her  work,  and  was 
afraid  to  interfere,  lest  her  brother  or  Wagner  should 
do  her  a  mischief.  Wagner  and  Conrad  dragged 
the  dead  body  into  the  bedroom,  laid  it  on  the  floor 
near  the  bed,  and  locked  the  door.  After  refi-esh- 
ing  himself  with  a  glass  of  brandy,  Wagner  return- 
ed to  his  cottage  to  rest.  Conrad  went  up- 
stairs to  his  mother,  exclaiming,  "  Oh,  mother,  if 
the  deed  were  not  done,  it  never  should  be  done." 
The  mother  did  not  shed  a  single  tear;  for,  said 
she,  her  husband  had  used  her  so  ill  that  she 
thought  that  God  himself  must  have  inspired  her 
children  and  herself  with  the  idea  of  having  him 
murdered.  When  asked,  on  her  final  examination, 
whether  she  beUeved  that  it  would  go  well  with 


THE  KLEINSCHROT  FAMILY.        207 

her  after  death,  she  replied,  "  Certainly  I  do  be- 
lieve that  I  shall  be  received  into  God's  mercy ; 
for  I  have  suffered  so  much  in  this  world,  that  there 
would  be  no  such  thing  as  justice  if  it  were  not 
made  up  to  me  in  the  next." 

Early  on  the  following  morning,  which  was 
Sunday,  Conrad  fetched  Anna  Wagner.  She 
washed  out  the  blood-stains  in  the  kitchen,  and 
received  the  bucket  she  had  used  as  a  reward.  Con- 
rad and  his  brother  went  in  the  afternoon  to  the 
fair  at  Petersau,notfor  pleasure,  but  because  they 
had  been  invited  by  their  customers,  and  could  not 
well  avoid  going.  Far  fi-om  amusing  themselves, 
they  stole  away  to  a  neighboring  hill,  fell  on  their 
knees,  and  prayed  to  God  for  forgiveness  of  their 
crime. 

Early  on  Monday  morning  Wagner  rolled  the 
corpse  in  some  linen,  given  him  for  the  purposeby 
the  old  miller's  wife,  and  sewed  it  up  in  a  sack  which 
Anna  Wagner  had  made  of  some  coarse  canvass. 
He  then  dutr  a  hole  at  the  back  of  the  saw-mill, 
whither  Conrad  and  Wagner  caiTied  the  corpse  at 
midday,  and  Wagner  buried  it,  with  the  assistance  of 
his  wife.  Frederick  stamped  down  the  loose  earth 
over  his  father's  grave,  while  his  mother  stood  in  the 
doorway  praying. 

Here  the  dead  body  lay  for  nearly  a  year ;  but 
about  Michaelmas,  1818,  when  it  was  rumored 
abroad  that  the  old  miller  had  been  murdered,  and 
buried  in  the  saw-mill,  it  was  disinteired  by  Wag- 
ner and  Conrad.  The  two  brothers  carried  it  on 
a  bier  to  some  rocks  in  a  field  called  the  Weiher- 
acker,  where  they  and  Wagner  covered  it  with 
stones  and  moss.  Waorier  was  rewarded  for  this 
job  with  another  hundred  fiorins. 


208  REMARKABLE    CRIMINAL    TRIALS. 

This  case  presented  many  difficulties;  above 
all,  that  of  tlio  That  hcstand,  or  fact  of  a  murder 
having  been  committed. 

It  was  impossible  to  prove  the  violent  death  by 
inspection  of  the  remains  [augenschcin),  as  the  body 
was  entirely  decomposed,  and  the  bones  so  scat- 
tered, that  there  were  not  enough  forthcoming  to 
form  a  complete  skeleton.  The  physician  supposed 
that  some  of  the  larger  bones  lay  still  deeper  and 
had  not  been  discovered,  but  it  is  more  likely  that 
a  fox  or  some  other  animal  had  gnawed  the  body 
and  carried  away  the  missing  parts. 

The  only  fact  juridically  proved  was  that  old 
Frederick  Kleinschrot  was  no  longer  alive ;  but 
according  to  the  Bavarian  code  the  confession  of 
one  criminal  is,  under  certain  circumstances,  equal 
to  the  testimony  of  a  competent  witness  ;*  how  much 
stronger  therefore  were  the  concun-ent  confessions 
of  several  accomplices,  whose  statements  were 
evidence  not  only  against  themselves,  but  against 
each  other  1  But  this  same  code  further  requix-est 
that  when  a  violent  death  is  not  distinctly  proved 
by  the  remains,  the  witness  or  witnesses  shall  prove 
that  "the  injuries  were  of  such  a  nature  that  death 
must  necessarily  have  ensued  from  them."  This 
was  not  the  case  with  old  Kleinschrot :  there  was 
nothing  to  show  that  the  stab  or  the  blows  on  the 
head  were  mortal. 

Thus,  therefore,  although  no  reasonable  man 
could  doubt  that  the  miller,  Frederick  Kleinschrot, 
died  of  the  injuries  which  he  had  received,  the 
legal  evidence  was  incomplete.  For  although  it 
was  certain  that  he  was  dead,  and  moreover  that 
his  death  had  been  caused,  according  to  the  full 
confession  of  the  accomplices,  by  bodily  injuries 
inflicted  by  themselves,   nevertheless  it  was    not 

♦  Art.  280,  No.  3,  Part  II.,  of  the '  Strafgeselzbuch," 
t  Ibid.,  Art.  269,  271. 


THE    KLEINSCHROT    FAMILY,  209 

proved  cither  from  inspeclion  of  the  remains,  or 
by  any  witness,  or  by  the  opinion  of  the  examining 
physician,  that  these  injuries  were  fatal.  The 
Bavarian  criminal  law  requires  certainty,  and  does 
not  admit  the  ordinaiy  conclusion  from  ^05^  hoc  to 
propter  hoc. 

As  the  murder  had  not  been  judicially  proved, 
sentence  of  death  could  not  be  passed  upon  any 
one  of  the  criminals  ;  but  they  were  found  guilty, 
according  to  their  several  gradations  in  crime,  of 
attempt  to  murder.*  Wagner  had  done  every- 
thing in  his  power  to  accomplish  the  mui'der ;  no- 
thing was  wanting  but  the  legal  proof  that  his  at- 
tempt had  been  successful.  Conrad  also  was  evi- 
dently a  principal :  he  had  hired  the  assassin  and 
originated  the  deed,  which  in  his  case  was  more 
criminal,  as  the  victim  was  his  own  father.  These 
two  were  accordingly  sentenced  to  the  severest 
punishment  short  of  death — solitary  imprisonment 
for  life  in  heavy  chains,  involving  ci\'il  death  and 
previous  public  exposure. 

Frederick  Kleinschrot  was  considered  as  acces- 
sory in  the  first  degree,  and  was  sentenced  to  im- 
prisonment for  fifteen  years. 

The  mother,  Barbara  Kleinschrot,  as  accessory 
in  the  second  degree  and  with  extenuating  cii'- 
cumstances,  was  sentenced  to  only  eight  years' 
imprisonment  in  the  house  of  cori'ection. 

The  elder  daughter,  Margaret,  would  have  been 
considei'ed  as  accessory  in  the  third  degi-eef  had 
the  evidence  against  her  been  clear ;  but  both  she 
and  her  younger  sister  Kanigunda,  who  appeared 
to  be  of  very  weak  intellect,  were  acquitted  for 
want  of  evidence. 

Anna  Wagner  pleaded  in  her  justification  that 
she  had  acted  in  obedience  to  her  husband.     By 

*  Art.  60,  Part  I.,  "  StrafgesetzDucn. ' 
t  Art.  78,  No.  2,  ibid. 
11  sa 


210  REMARKABLE    CRIMINAL    TRIALS. 

the  Bavarian  code,*  a  person  who  knows  that  a 
crime  is  about  to  be  committed  and  does  nothing 
to  prevent  it,  which  he  may  do  without  thereby 
exposing  himself  to  danger,  becomes  accessoiy  in 
the  third  degree,  and  hablc  to  imprisonment  in  the 
liouse  of  correction  of  from  one  to  three  years' 
d  uration. 

This  was  precisely  Anna  Wagner's  predica- 
ment ;  and  in  consideration  of  her  confession,  which 
produced  the  discovery  of  this  long-concealed  mur- 
der, the  comt  sentenced  her  to  the  smallest  amount 
of  jjunishment,  one  year's  imprisonment  in  the 
house  of  conection. 

The  sentences  against  Wagner  and  Conrad  were 
sent  for  confinnation  to  the  central  couit  of  Bava- 
ria ;  the  others  were  only  to  be  sent  in  case  of  their 
being  appealed  against. 

When  Frederick  Kleinschrot  heard  the  sentence 
pronounced  on  him,  on  the  12th  August,  he  was 
violently  agitated.  "  I  cannot  bear  my  sentence, 
but  will  appeal  against  it.  I  can  never  endure 
the  punishment  awarded  me,  and  woidd  much  pre- 
fer death  to  fifteen  years'  imprisonment  in  the 
house  of  correction.  Neither  am  I  convinced  that 
it  is  just  to  condemn  me  to  so  severe  a  punishment 
on  account  of  a  man  who  was  so  wicked  as  my 
father.  As  long  as  my  father  lived  my  home  was 
a  cruel  prison,  and  if  I  am  to  live  fifteen  years 
more  in  another,  I  would  rather  die." 

His  mother  also  at  fiist  declared  that  she  would 
appeal,  but  eventually  they  both  submitted  to  their 
sentence. 

Fredeiick  afterwards  said,  "  What  determines 
me  not  to  appeal  is,  that  I  shall  thus  be  freed  fi-om 
the  misery  of  suspense,  and  that  I  have  some  hope 
of  being  released  from  prison  when   1  shall  havo 

*  Art.  78,  No.  Z,  "  Strsfgesetzhuch." 


THE    KLEINSCHROT    FAMILY.  211 

pi'oved  by  my  conduct  that  I  am  only  erring  and 
not  comipt." 

On  the  IGth  November  the  supreme  court  con- 
firmed the  sentence  on  Wagner  and  Conrad.  They 
were  both  exposed  in  the  pillory  A\'ith  placards  on 
their  breasts  and  the  irons  in  which  they  were  to 
die  riveted  upon  them.  They  were  then  led  to 
their  solitary  cells. 

In  the  pillory  Conrad's  demeanor  was  as  might 
have  been  expected  from  him :  conscious  of  his 
guilt,  he  endured  his  punishment  in  silence,  with 
his  head  sunk  on  his  breast.  Wagner,  on  the  con- 
trary, gazed  upon  the  assembled  multitude  with 
an  air  of  impudent  defiance,  and  once  even  held 
up  the  placard  which  proclaimed  his  infamy,  as  if 
to  show  it  to  the  crowd  more  plainly. 


JOHN   GEORGE    SORGEL, 

THE  IDIOT  MURDERER. 


Conrad  Eichmuller,  of  Lenzenberg,  a  day- 
laborer  seventy-one  years  old,  and  feeble  with  age, 
had  been  employed  for  about  a  week  on  a  hill  in 
the  forest  near  Hersbruck,  in  digging  and  cutting 
up  stumps  of  trees.  He  always  went  to  his  work 
early  in  the  morning,  and  returned  home  before 
dark,  usually  at  five  o'clock;  but  on  the  7th  of 
September,  1824,  night  began  to  close  in,  and  he 
was  not  come  back.  His  wife,  a  woman  of  sixty- 
two,  became  uneasy  about  him,  and  sent  her  son 
by  a  former  mamage,  a  young  man  called  Lahner, 
with  some  other  youths,  to  look  after  him.  They 
soon  returned  with  the  news  that  the  old  man  was 
lying  dead  in  the  forest,  and  took  with  them  some 
men,  and  a  cart  to  fetch  the  body. 

Eichmuller  was  found  about  three  feet  from  the 
Btump  at  which  he  had  been  working,  and  in  which 
three  wedges  were  still  sticking ;  he  was  lying  with 
his  face  towards  the  ground ;  his  skull  shattered, 
and  both  feet  chopped  oft";  the  left  foot  still 
adhered  to  the  body  by  the  boot,  but  the  right  lay 
under  a  ti-ee  at  a  distance  of  four  or  five  feet ; 
traces  of  blood  clearly  showed  that  he  had  been 
drao-o-ed  from  the  spot  where  he  was  at  work,  after 
he  had  been  killed  and  his  feet  had  been  chopped 
off:  his  jacket  and  his  two  axes  were  scattered 
about,  and  one  of  the  latter  was  stained  with  blood 
in    a  manner  which   loft  no   doubt   that    it    had 


JOHN    GEOUGE  SORGEL.  213 

been  used  in  the  murder  and  mutilation  of  the 
unfortunate  old  man.  The  wife  had  charged  her 
son  to  take  possession  of  the  money  which  her 
husband  had  in  his  pocket,  amounting  to  about 
two  florins,  but  on  searching  the  body  nothing 
was  found  upon  it  save  one  button  in  the  breeches 
pocket. 

The  deed  was  no  sooner  made  public  than  the 
murderer  was  known  and  brought  before  the  tri- 
bunal at  Hersbruck. 

On  the  7th  of  September  (the  day  of  the  mur- 
der), Paul  Deuerlein,  a  day-laborer,  was  driving  a 
cartload  of  grain  from  Reichenschwand  to  Hers- 
bruck, and  at  about  five  o'clock  in  the  afternoon  he 
overtook  young  Sorgel  on  the  road,  and  called  out 
to  him,  "  Where  do  you  come  fi'om  ]  the  Hans- 
giirgle,  eh  1"  Sorgel  replied,  pointing  to  the  hill, 
"  A  year  ago  some  one  buried  my  blood  up  there  : 
I  went  to  look  for  it  last  year,  but  it  had  not 
curdled  then,  and  he  who  had  buried  it  flogged  me 
soundly.  To-day  I  went  up  there  again  to  look 
after  my  blood,  and  he  who  buried  it  was  there 
again,  and  had  bonis,  but  I  hit  him  on  the  head 
with  the  hatchet,  chopped  off"  his  feet,  and  drank 
his  blood."  Deuerlein,  who  knew  that  Sorgel  was 
foolish  at  times,  took  no  heed  of  what  he  said  ; 
meanwhile  they  came  to  Hersbruck,  where  Sorgel's 
father  was  waiting  for  him  at  the  door  of  the  poor- 
house  into  which  he  and  his  family  had  been  re- 
ceived. 

Sorgel  came  quietly  along  with  Deuerlein,  who 
told  the  father,  in  the  presence  of  a  blind  man  call- 
ed Albert  Gassner,  what  his  son  had  been  saying. 
The  father  scolded  his  son  for  talking  such  non- 
sense ;  but  he  replied,  "  Yes,  father,  it  is  quite  true 
that  I  knocked  a  man  on  the  head,  and  chopped 
oft'  his  feet ;  I  killed  him  in  order  to  drink  a  felon's 
blood ;   and  the  man  had  horns  upon  his  head." 


214  REMARKABLE    CRIMINAL    TRIALS. 

Gassner  followed  Sorgel  into  his  room,  where  he 
added,  *'  I  also  took  from  him  a  purse  of  money, 
but  I  threw  it  away  again,  for  I  will  never  keep 
what  is  not  mine."  Gassner  said  jesting,  "  Oh, 
you  kept  the  money,  to  be  sure ;"  whereupon 
Sorgel  was  angry,  and  said,  "  Hold  your  tongue, 
or  1  will  strike  you  dead." 

About  an  hour  later  Sorgel  went  into  the  barn 
of  the  inn  next  door  to  the  poorhouse,  laughing 
heartily,  and  said  to  Katharine  Gassner,  "  Now  I 
am  well  again ;  I  have  given  it  to  some  one 
soundly  ;  I  hit  him  on  the  head,  and  chopped  off 
both  his  feet,  and  one  of  them  I  threw  away." 
Katharine  was  frightened  at  this  speech,  especially 
as  she  perceived  blood  upon  his  face  :  when  she 
asked  him  how  it  got  there,  he  answered,  "  I  drank 
a  felon's  blood  ;"  and  he  went  on  to  tell  her  that 
the  man  was  sitting  on  the  ground  filling  a  pipe, 
and  that  he  (Sorgel)  took  up  the  man's  hatchet, 
which  lay  beside  him,  struck  him  with  it  on 
the  head,  and  took  two  florins  which  he  had  upon 
him. 

In  the  evening  he  told  Katharine  Gotz,  the 
daughter  of  the  sick-nurse  in  the  poorhouse,  that 
he  had  come  upon  a  woodcutter  who  was  digging 
up  stumps  in  the  forest,  and  that  at  first  he  had 
helped  him  at  his  work,  but  that  the  man  then  ap- 
peared to  him  to  have  horns,  whereupon  he  took 
up  the  hatchet  and  hit  him  on  the  head,  that  the 
man  groaned  very  much,  and  he  then  chopped  off 
both  his  feet,  and  drank  his  blood. 

Old  Sorgel,  who  looked  upon  his  son's  story  aa 
a  symptom  of  returning  insanity,  to  attacks  of 
which  his  son  was  subject,  chained  him  to  his  bed 
by  way  of  precaution.  The  son  bore  it  quietly, 
ate  his  supper,  and  joined  in  prayer  with  the  rest 
of  the  family  as  usual,  and  then  lay  down  ;  but  to- 
wards morning  he  broke  out  in  raving  madness, 


JOHN    GEORGE    SORGEL.  215 

Stormed,  and  tugged  at  his  chain,  which  he  endea- 
vored to  break.  In  this  state  he  was  found  by  the 
constables  when  they  went  to  ari'est  and  take  him 
before  the  court,  and  tliey  were  accordingly  forced 
to  depart  without  him.  Soon  after,  however,  he 
became  perfectly  quiet,  and  his  own  father  and 
another  man  took  him  before  the  court,  unfettered, 
on  the  8th  of  September. 

He  was  immediately  examined  in  the  presence 
of  his  father  and  his  father's  companion.  On 
being  questioned,  he  stated  that  his  name  was 
John  George  Sorgel,  that  he  was  twenty  years  of 
age,  a  Protestant,  the  son  of  a  day -laborer,  born 
in  the  poorhouse  at  Hersbruck,  unmarried,  and 
without  property,  and  that  he  had  learned  the 
trade  of  a  knife-grinder  and  of  a  chimney-sweep. 
On  being  asked  whether  he  had  ever  been  in  cus- 
tody before,  he  replied,  "  Oh,  no  ;  who  would  do 
any  harm  to  me  —  I  am  an  angel."  He  then  re- 
lated the  murder  as  follows  :  —  "I  went  yesterday 
with  my  father  to  the  wood  called  the  Hansgorgle 
— I  left  my  father,  and  saw  at  a  distance  an  old  man 
digging  up  stumps  of  trees  —  I  did  not  know  this 
man  ;  but  it  seemed  to  me  that  my  owni  blood  was 
buried  under  the  stump,  and  I  formerly  dreamed 
that  my  parents  were  shut  up  in  that  place,  and 
that  I  must  drink  the  blood  of  a  felon.  So  I  went 
up  to  the  old  man  and  struck  him  on  the  head  with 
his  hatchet,  and  chopped  off  both  his  feet.  I  then 
drank  the  blood  out  of  his  head,  left  him  lying  there, 
and  went  home."  When  asked  what  could  induce 
him  to  commit  such  a  deed,  he  said,  "The  thing  is 
done  and  I  cannot  help  it;  it  was  because  I  thought 
he  was  digging  up  my  blood."  Sorgel  signed  the 
protocol  properly,  but  during  the  examination  he 
stared  about  him  wildly,  showed  great  restless- 
ness, and  fidgeted  with  his  feet  and  hands;  more- 
over, he  continually  expressed  a  desire  of  becora- 


216  REMARKABLE    CRIMINAL    TRIALJJ. 

ing  a  soldier,  and  could  only  be  kept  in  the  room 
1)y  the  promise  that  his  wishes  should  be  complied 
with. 

On  the  same  afternoon  he  was  taken  to  Lenzen- 
berg  to  see  the  body,  which  he  approached  with- 
out the  slightest  air  of  dismay,  embarrassment,  or 
remorse.  When  asked  whether  he  recognised  it, 
he  said,  "  Yes,  it  is  the  same  man  whom  I  struck 
yesterday  evening,  ho  is  dressed  in  the  same 
clothes ;  I  chopped  off  his  tcet  so  that  he  might 
never  be  laid  in  chains  again."  During  this  scene 
he  displayed  the  same  bodily  restlessness  as  he  had 
done  at  his  examination.  He  frequently  laughed, 
and  said  that  he  was  an  angel,  and  that  he  had 
known  very  well  that  the  old  man  was  good  for 
nothing. 

On  the  following  day,  9th  of  September,  the 
judges  went  into  the  prison  of  the  accused  to  ex- 
amine him  again.  When  asked  how  he  felt,  he 
said,  "  My  head  is  very  full,  and  I  have  bad  dreams; 
among  other  things  I  di-eamt  that  I  must  go  up  to 
the  Hansgorgle ;  where  there  is  a  clock  which 
strikes  very  loud."  You  told  us  yesterday  that 
you  had  killed  a  man :  how  did  you  do  that  i  "  I 
saw  an  old  man  digging  up  stumps  in  the  Hans- 
fforsfle,  and  I  went  and  sat  down  near  him.  I  took 
up  his  hatchet,  which  lay  beside  him,  and  struck 
him  with  the  back  of  it  upon  the  head,  so  that  he 
instantly  fell  down  dead ;  then  I  chopped  off  both 
his  feet.  He  had  an  old  wooden  tobacco-pipe  in 
his  hand,  which  he  dropped  when  I  struck  him  ;  I 
took  the  pipe,  but  threw  it  away  directly.  I  also 
took  his  tlint  and  steel,  and  kept  them"  (these  were 
found  upon  him  by  his  father,  and  delivered  to  the 
court).  Sorgel  stedfastly  denied  having  taken 
any  money  from  the  old  man,  or  having  confessed 
to  any  one  that  he  had  done  so,  nor  was  a  single 
coin  found  upon  him.     Why  then  did  you  chop  off 


JOHN    GEORGE    SORGEL.  217 

the  man's  feet  ]  "  In  order  that  he  might  not  be 
laid  in  chains."  Why  did  you  kill  him?  "I  struck 
him  because  I  thought  he  was  going  to  dig  up  my 
own  blood."  He  then  went  on  to  say  that  a 
strange  woman  had  once  told  him  he  must  drink 
felon's  blood  to  be  cured  of  the  falling  sickness ; 
and  he  added  that  he  had  felt  much  better  since 
he  had  drunk  the  old  man's  blood.  "  I  knew," 
said  he,  "  that  it  was  forbidden  to  kill  people,  but 
1  killed  the  man  in  order  to  be  cured  by  his  blood. 
It  happened  soon  before  five  in  the  afternoon,  and 
I  first  drank  the  blood  from  the  man's  head,  and 
then  dragged  him  to  a  little  distance  and  cut  oft" 
both  his  feet ;  the  left  foot  remained  attached  to 
the  boot,  and  the  right  foot  I  threw  away."  The 
blood-stained  hatchet  was  then  laid  before  him  ; 
he  looked  at  it  attentively,  and  said  at  last,  "  Yes, 
that  is  the  hatchet  with  which  I  struck  the  man 
and  chopped  off"  his  feet."  He  also  recognised 
the  flint  and  steel  which  were  shown  him.  The 
examination  concluded  with  the  following  ques- 
tions and  auvswers:  —  Do  you  repent  of  what  you 
have  done  ?  "  Why,  he  beat  me  soundly  last  year, 
and  that  is  why  he  did  nothing  to  me  when  I  hit 
him  on  the  head."  On  what  occasion  did  the  man 
beat  you  last  year  1  "  1  went  to  the  woods  once 
before  to  catch  birds,  and  he  beat  me  then." 

On  the  loth  of  September  the  court  was  inform- 
ed that  Sorgel  had  been  perfectly  quiet  for  several 
days,  and  that  he  talked  coherently,  without  any 
mixture  of  foolish  fancies.  The  judges  hereupon 
repaired  to  his  prison  in  order  to  avail  themselves 
(jf  this  interval  of  reason  for  an  examination.  His 
appearance  and  manner  were  totally  changed ; 
when  the  authorities  came  in  he  took  off"  his  cap, 
and  greeted  them  civilly,  which  he  had  never  done 
before,  at  the  same  time  addressing  the  judge  by 
name.     On  being  asked,  he  said  he  had  felt  much 

T 


218  REMARKABLE    CRIMINAL    TRIALS. 

better  ever  since  he  had  been  bled  by  order  of  the 
physician.  That  before  that  he  had  not  been  at 
all  well,  that  his  head  had  been  dizzy  and  full  of 
strange  fancies,  and  that  he  had  dreamt  all  manner 
of  nonsense.  He  was  then  asked  if  he  knew  the 
cause  of  his  arrest.  '*  My  father,"  said  he,  "  who 
generally  watches  beside  me  at  night,  told  me  that 
I  ran  away  from  him  in  the  Hansgorgle  and  killed 
a  woodcutter,  so  I  suppose  that  is  why  I  am  in 
prison."  Did  he  remember  going  to  the  Hans- 
gorgle with  his  father.  "  No ;  1  should  know 
nothing  of  the  matter  had  not  my  father  told  me 
about  it  the  other  day.  I  know  nothing  at  all  of 
having  killed  a  man ;  and  if  I  did  so,  it  must  have 
been  the  will  of  God  who  led  me  thither."  He  was 
then  reminded  that  he  had  himself  twice  told  the 
court  that  he  had  killed  a  woodcutter  with  his  own 
hatchet.  "I  remember,"  said  he,  "that  you  were 
here  in  my  prison,  and  that  somebody  wrote  at 
yonder  table,  but  I  know  nothing  of  having  con- 
fessed that  I  killed  a  man."  He  as  positively  deni- 
ed any  recollection  of  having  had  a  dead  man  with 
his  legs  chopped  oft" shown  to  him,  or  that  a  bloody 
hatchet  and  a  Hint  and  steel  had  been  laid  before 
him,  both  of  which  he  recognised.  Nevertheless, 
he  knew  that  he  had  been  imprisoned  for  about 
ten  days,  and  that  it  was  Saturday.  He  admitted 
having  heard,  as  he  added,  from  his  mother,  who 
had  heard  it  from  some  one  else,  that  the  blood  of 
a  felon  was  a  cure  for  the  falling  sickness,  but  ob- 
served that  the  man  he  killed  was  no  felon,  but 
rather  that  he  himself  must  be  one.  Still  he  main- 
tained that  he  never  remembered  drinking  human 
blood  or  killing  the  woodcutter.  "  Every  one  tells 
me  that  I  did  so,"  said  he,  "and  therefore  I  am 
bound  to  believe  it,  but  I  must  have  been  out  of 
my  mind  at  the  time."  During  tlie  whole  examina- 
tion his  demeanor  was  quiet  and  collected  he  sDoke 


JOHN    GEORGE    SORGEL.  219 

coherently,  and  without  any  confusion  of  ideas,  and 
his  look  was  open  and  unembarrassed. 

The  next  examination  was  defended  until  the 
28th  September,  but  nothing  new  was  elicited. 
Sorgel  still  answered  every  question  by  declaring 
that  he  knew  absolutely  nothing  of  all  that  he  had 
formerly  related  to  the  court  and  to  other  persons. 
The  flint  and  steel  were  shown  to  him,  but  he  de- 
nied all  knowledge  of  them,  or  of  how  they  had 
come  into  his  possession.  The  axe  was  likewise 
laid  before  him,  but  he  said  "  I  don't  know  it." 
The  court  remarked  that  during  the  whole  exam- 
ination the  prisoner  behaved  with  composure  and 
propriety,  was  perfectly  easy  and  unconstrained, 
and  that  his  countenance  was  open  and  cheerful. 

It  is  evident  that  the  utter  ignorance  of  all  he 
had  done,  which  Sorgel  professed  during  the  ex- 
aminations of  the  15th  and  2Sth  August,  was  not 
aft'ected.  Falsehood  is  never  so  perfectly  consis- 
tent as  were  his  declarations  in  the  two  last  ex- 
aminations, nor  can  dissimulation  ever  appear  so 
frank  and  unconstrained  as  the  demeanor  of  this 
young  man,  who  was,  moreover,  described  by  all 
who  knew  him  as  a  simple,  kind-hearted,  pious  lad 
when  in  his  right  senses.  At  both  the  two  last 
examinations  he  showed  himself  perfectly  sane, 
whereas  if  he  had  had  any  reason  for  wishing  to 
deceive  the  judge,  nothing  would  have  been  easier 
for  him  than  to  continue  playing  the  part  of  a  mad- 
man. If  his  ignorance  at  the  two  last  examinations 
was  affected,  his  former  madness  must  necessarily 
have  been  equally  false,  a  supposition  which  is  con- 
tradicted by  all  the  evidence.  None  but  a  Garrick 
could  have  acted  madness  with  such  fearful  truth 
and  nature.  Nor  was  a  murderer  at  all  likely  first 
to  confess  his  crime  in  the  assumed  character  of  a 
madman,  and  then  to  affect  forgetfulness  of  the 
past  upon  pretending  to  recover  reason.    If,  again, 


220  REMARKABLE    CRIMINAL    TRIALS. 

he  were  really  mad  when  he  committed  the  crime, 
when  he  related  it  and  when  he  recognised  the 
corpse  and  the  blood-stained  axe,  he  could  have  no 
conceivable  motive  tor  acting  forgetfVilness  of  deeda 
committed  and  words  uttered  during  a  paroxysm 
'   of"  insanity. 

His  behavior  in  court  on  the  3d  November,  when 
his  advocate's  defence  was  read  to  him,  confii-med 
the  truth  of  his  statement.  His  advocate  pleaded 
for  an  acquittal  on  the  ground  that  he  was  not  ac- 
countable for  his  actions.  During  the  reading  of 
this  paper  Scirgel's  manner  was  unconstrained  and 
almost  indifterent:  he  listened  to  it  attentively,  but 
without  the  slightest  emotion.  On  being  asked 
whether  he  was  satisfied  with  the  defence,  whether 
he  had  anything  to  add,  and  if  so,  what  ]  he  an- 
swered, "  I  have  nothing  to  add,  and  what  yonder 
gentleman  has  written  is  quite  to  my  mind.  As  I 
have  often  said,  I  know  nothing  about  killing  any 
man,  and  if  I  did  so,  it  must  have  been  while  I  did 
not  know  what  I  was  about.  If  I  had  been  in  my 
right  mintl,  as  I  am  now,  I  certainly  should  not 
have  harmed  any  one."  To  the  inquiry  how  he 
felt,  he  replied,  "  Very  well,  but  a  few  days  ago 
my  keeper  tells  me  I  was  very  crazy  again  and 
talked  all  manner  of  nonsense,  but  I  do  not  know 
a  word  of  the  matter." 

As  yet  we  have  confined  ourselves  merely  to 
Sorgel's  murder  and  trial,  but  in  order  to  under- 
stand his  state  of  mind  and  the  event  to  which  it 
gave  rise,  we  must  examine  his  previous  history, 
as  collected  from  the  evidence  of  his  parents  and 
other  persons  who  observed  him  shortly  before 
the  trial. 

John  George  Sorgel  was  the  son  of  a  very  poor 
day-laborer  who  lived  in  the  poorhouse  at  Hers- 
bruck.  He  received  a  proper  school  education,  by 
which  he  profited  very  well:  he  was  fond  of  read- 


JOHN    GEORGE    SOUGEL.  221 

insT  and  wrote  a  fair  lecjible  hand.  From  his  ear- 
liest  youth  lie  was  always  vciy  industi'ious,  help- 
ing his  father  in  his  work  to  the  utmost  of  his 
power,  civil  and  gentle  towards  every  one,  and 
very  piously  inclined.  His  leisure  hours  were  oc- 
cupied in  reading  religious  books,  especially  the 
Bible,  in  which  he  was  well  versed  :  his  mind  thus 
became  filled  with  vasrue  imasfes  of  angels,  devils, 
hell,  heaven,  divine  revelations,  and  the  like,  mixed 
up  with  a  large  stock  of  vulgar  superstition.  These 
images  formed  the  basis  of  the  world  of  dreams 
into  which  he  was  thrown  by  madness.  In  the 
year  1820  he  was  apprenticed  to  a  chimney-sweep- 
er. His  master  gave  the  highest  testimony  to  his 
industry,  good- will,  attention,  and  morals ;  but  at 
the  end  of  a  year  he  was  compelled  to  leave  his 
work  owing  to  a  violent  attack  of  epilepsy,  which 
forced  his  master  to  release  him  fiom  his  appren- 
ticeship and  to  send  him  home.  From  that  time 
he  remained  subject  to  that  disease  in  its  most 
virulent  form  :  he  not  unfrequently  had  several  fits 
during  the  day,  once  even  as  many  as  eight.  These 
constant  fits  weakened  his  undex'standing  without 
in  the  least  blunting  his  imagination,  and  he  fell 
into  a  state  of  morbid  melancholy,  arising  partly 
from  bodily  infirmity,  and  partly  from  the  thought 
that  his  illness  kept  him  at  home  a  burden  to  his 
family,  and  deban-ed  him  from  the  possibility  of 
occupation  or  enjoyment. 

In  the  spring  of  1823  the  disorder  of  his  mind 
broke  out  for  the  first  time  into  positive  madness. 
He  lay  in  bed,  ate  nothing,  stared  at  one  corner  of 
the  room,  spoke  little,  except  at  times  when  he 
poured  out  wild  and  incoherent  speeches,  almost 
entirely  upon  religious  subjects,  saying  that  the 
Savior  had  appeared  to  him,  and  had  talked  and 
eaten  with  him,  that  his  father  and  mother  would 
go  to  heaven,  where  there  was  no  water  to  drink, 

t2 


222  REMARKABLE    CRIMINAL    TRIAL?. 

but  only  wine,  and  sweet  things  to  eat.  The  con- 
stable, Andreas  Lauter,  who  visited  him  during 
this  attack,  said,  "  Sorgel  shouted,  preached,  and 
sang  hymns  without  ceasing  for  twenty-four  hours 
together.  He  told  us  that  he  had  been  with  God 
and  had  talked  to  him.  When  I  entered  the  room 
he  called  to  his  mother  to  withdraw,  for  that  I  was 
the  devil :  he  was  lying  in  bed  at  the  time.  I  re- 
minded him  of  it  since,  but  he  remembered  nothing 
at  all  of  the  matter."  In  this  condition  he  remained, 
according  to  his  mother's  account,  for  a  week  ;  ac- 
cording to  his  father's,  for  a  month.  He  then  re- 
covered completely,  talked  rationally  and  cohe- 
rently, and  went  to  work  again  as  before,  and  for 
nearly  a  year  he  had  no  relapse  ;  but  in  the  spring 
of  1824  he  had  fresh  attacks,  which  did  not  at  first 
last  long,  but  gradually  increased  in  frequency  and 
in  violence. 

"  This  spring,"  says  Katharine  Gassner,  an  eye- 
witness, "  three  young  men  of  the  town  passed  the 
poorhouse  singing  and  hallooing  on  their  way  to 
foreign  parts.  This  perhaps  vexed  young  Sorgel, 
who  stood  at  the  gate  and  began  as  if  he  were 
preaching — '  I  am  the  collier  lad.  They  go  forth 
rejoicing,  and  I  have  the  falling  sickness,  and  am 
left  behind  in  grief  and  sorrow.'  He  instantly  be- 
came restless  and  uneasy,  and  we  saw  that  some 
change  was  taking  place  in  him.  The  wife  of  Gotz, 
the  attendant  on  the  sick,  tried  to  quiet  him  and  to 
persuade  him  to  go  back  to  his  room,  but  he  struck 
her  twice  on  the  face  and  went  out  upon  the  high 
road,  where  he  walked  up  and  down  with  a  dis- 
turbed and  angry  air.  At  this  moment  a  stranger 
came  along  the  road,  and  Sorgel  went  up  to  him, 
knocked  his  hat  off  his  head,  struck  him  with  his 
fist,  and  ti'ampled  the  hat  inider  foot.  The  stran- 
ger, surprised  at  this  unexpected  attack,  was  going 
to  beat  him,  but  his  mother,  Gotz's  wife,  and  I, 


JOFIN    GEORGH    SORGEL.  223 

ran  up  and  pacified  him  by  explaining  that  the 
young  man  was  out  of  his  senses."  Another  wit- 
ness gave  the  same  account  of  this  occuiTence, 
with  the  addition  that  he  said  in  a  preaching  tone, 
"  I  am  a  little  hare ;  I  am  the  Lord  Jesus,  and 
make  the  grass  to  gi'ow." 

In  the  course  of  the  following  night  he  secretly 
got  out  of  the  window  and  ran  in  his  shirt  to  the 
churchyard  of  the  neighboring  village. 

In  the  month  of  May  he  was  working  with  his 
father  in  a  hop-ground,  when  he  suddenly  began 
to  thrust  the  iron  bar  with  which  holes  are  bored 
for  the  hop-poles  violently  into  the  ground,  saying, 
"  Now  I  am  thrusting  down  into  hell."  He  then 
ran  home  to  his  mother  and  told  her  that  he  would 
tie  no  more  hops,  as  he  was  floating  between 
heaven  and  earth.  He  then  ran  away  to  Scherau, 
a  wilderness  surrounded  with  fish-ponds :  on  his 
way  he  pulled  off  his  boots,  and  left  them  on  a  hill. 
At  Scherau  he  jumped  into  a  pond,  pulled  off  his 
trowsers  and  stockings,  and  threw  them  into  the 
water.  At  nine  o'clock  at  night  on  the  14th  May 
he  came  in  his  shirt  to  a  farmer's  house  and  shouted 
through  the  window,  "Which  way  must  I  go  to 
get  upon  earth  again  ?"  The  farmer's  son  came 
out  and  asked  him  who  he  was  and  what  he  was 
about,  and  he  replied  that  he  had  run  away  from 
home  because  the  earth  gave  way  under  his  feet 
while  he  was  binding  hops.  He  rejjeated  this  an- 
swer next  day  before  the  magistrate  at  Altorf,  to 
whom  he  was  taken  by  the  farmer's  son,  and  who 
sent  him  home  to  his  parents. 

For  several  months  after  this  he  was  quite  sane, 
but  in  the  first  week  of  September  he  exhibited 

J. 

the  first  symptoms  of  a  fresh  and  far  more  terrible 
attack.  "  On  the  Wednesday  preceding  the  mur- 
der," said  Margaret  Gotz,  to  whom  Sorgel  was  se- 
cretly attached,  "he  complained  of  a  great  weight 


224  REMARKABLE    CRIMINAL    TRIALS. 

upon  his  heart,  but  did  not  seem  at  all  wrong  in 
his  mind.  On  the  Thursday,  as  I  was  sitting  at 
my  work  in  the  couvt  of  the  poorhousc,  he  said  to 
me,  'Margaret,  this  weight  is  terrible  ;  1  never  felt 
anything  like  it  before  ;  I  think  I  must  be  going  to 
die.'  On  Friday  I  observed  that  he  talked  wildly. 
He  did  not  come  and  sit  with  me  and  the  other 
women,  but  sat  apart  by  himself;  he  stared  wildly, 
laughed  like  a  madman,  and  said  he  was  going 
down  into  hell.  His  friend,  the  blind  Albert  Gass- 
ner,  came  in  ;  he  seized  him  by  the  forehead,  pull- 
ed open  his  eyelids,  and  said, '  Now  you  vdll  see  ;' 
and  when  Gassner  said  that  he  could  not  see  now 
nor  ever  should,  Scirgel  replied,  'Wait  a  bit;  I 
will  take  a  knife  and  cut  your  eyes  open,  and  then 
you  will  see  ;'  which  frightened  Gassner  so  that  ho 
ran  away.  On  Saturday,  4th  September,  he  stayed 
nearly  all  day  in  my  parents'  room,  where  there 
was  a  soldier  lying  sick.  He  did  not  seem  to  like 
this,  and  frequently  asked  the  soldier  to  get  up  and 
go  away  with  him.  I  turned  him  out  at  the  door 
several  times,  but  he  always  returned,  and  once 
he  gave  me  such  a  terrible  look  that  I  was  quite 
frightened.  On  Sunday  (5th)  he  told  me  that  ho 
had  a  hair  in  his  mouth  that  reached  down  into  his 
stomach,  and  begged  me  to  pull  it  out.  I  was 
going  to  do  so,  but  his  mouth  was  so  full  of  foam 
that  I  was  frightened.  He  then  went  to  the  well 
and  rinsed  his  mouth,  saying  all  the  time  that  he 
felt  so  ill  he  must  be  going  to  die.  In  the  even- 
ing ho  lay  upon  the  bench  in  my  room  and  hung 
his  head  down  backwards,  which  I  forbid  him  sev- 
eral times,  but  he  always  did  it  again.  On  Mon- 
day aftei'noon  he  kept  walking  up  and  down  in  the 
passage,  and  at  last  threw  himself  violently  upon 
his  face,  crying  'Kill  me,  kill  me!'  and  in  the 
evening  he  threw  himself  dowTi  in  the  same  man- 
ner under  a  tree,  so  that  his  father  had  to  cany 


JOHN    GEORGE    SORGEL.  225 

him  away."  Katharine  Gassner  and  Elizabeth 
HeckHn  gave  evidence  to  precisely  the  same  ef- 
fect. 

After  his  father  had  taken  him  home  on  Monday 
evening,  he  again  tried  to  escape  through  the  win- 
doAV,  whereupon  old  Siirgel  sent  to  the  constable 
for  a  chain  and  padlock,  and  chained  his  son  to 
the  wall  beside  his  bed,  to  which  he  quietly  sub- 
mitted. 

On  Tuesday  moi-ning  young  Sorgel  appeared 
perfectly  tranquil,  and  begged  his  father  for  God's 
sake  to  unfetter  him.  His  request  was  complied 
with,  and  he  prayed  and  breakfasted  with  his 
parents.  At  last  he  proposed  to  his  father  to  take 
a  walk  with  him  up  the  old  hill,  about  three  miles 
from  Hersbruck,  as  it  might  divert  his  thoughts 
and  do  him  good.  His  father  consented,  and  they 
set  out  together  at  about  eight  o'clock.  When 
they  reached  the  very  top  of  the  mountain,  young 
Sorgel  jumped  down  a  steep  bank,  broke  through 
the  thicket  and  disappeared.  His  father,  seeing 
that  it  was  impossible  to  follow  him,  went  home, 
in  order  to  prevent  mischief  there.  What  fol- 
lowed our  readers  already  know. 

Nothing  is  more  remarkable  than  that  Sorgel's 
confessions,  which  were  made  during  his  fits  of 
madness,  should,  with  one  single  exception,  tally 
so  accurately  in  every  point  with  the  real  facts  of 
the  case.  His  statement  was  as  connected  and  as 
intelligible  a  one  in  every  respect  except  the  fan- 
tastic motives  which  he  assigned  for  the  deed,  as 
could  have  been  made  by  a  perfectly  sane  man. 
The  only  one  of  his  assertions  which  was  contra- 
dicted by  the  evidence  of  others  is  this,  that  before 
the  court  Scirgel  denied  having  ever  told  any  one 
that  he  had  taken  the  murdered  man's  purse.  It 
was  nevertheless  certain  that  the  woodcutter  had 
had  two  florins  in  his  possession,  and  that  this 
15 


226  REMAUKABLE   CRIMINAL    TRIALS. 

money  must  have  been  taken  by  SOrgel,  This 
was  proved  by  the  declaration  of  the  widow  and 
her  son,  and  by  the  confession  made  by  Sorgel 
that  very  evening  to  tlie  bUnd  Gassner  and  to 
Katharine,  both  parties  agreeing  exactly  as  to  the 
sum.  It  is,  however,  equally  certain  that  Soi-gel 
did  not  keep  this  money ;  in  all  probability  he 
took  it  in  a  fit  of  childish  avidity,  and  afterwards 
threw  it  away  as  a  useless  or  forbidden  possession. 
The  perfect  unconcern  with  which  Sorgel  re- 
lated the  whole  transaction,  as  if  it  were  the  most 
ordinary  event,  as  well  as  several  inational  ex- 
pressions which  he  made  use  of  in  court,  prove 
him  to  have  been  mad,  not  only  when  he  commit- 
ted the  murder,  but  also  when  he  underwent  the 
first  two  examinations.  The  most  remarkable 
light  is  thrown  upon  his  condition  by  the  change 
which  took  place  in  him  when  the  fit  of  madness 
had  passed  away.  With  the  madness  every  trace 
of  the  imaginary  world  which  it  had  called  into 
existence  disappeared  from  his  mind.  His  re- 
covery was  like  waking  from  a  deep  sleep,  which 
left  no  impression  but  a  vague  sense  of  bad  and 
friojhtful  dreams.  So  loner  as  his  soul  was  dark- 
ened  by  madness  he  was  as  perfectly  conscious  of 
his  own  fancies,  motives,  resolutions,  and  actions, 
as  of  the  real  external  circumstances  of  the  deed, 
and  was  able  clearly  to  describe  all  that  had 
passed.  But  these  images,  motives,  and  recollec- 
tions vanished  as  soon  as  the  spell  of  madness  was 
broken,  and  he  heard  the  account  with  as  much 
surprise  as  he  would  have  listened  to  the  recital  of 
the  strange  deeds  of  some  unknown  person.  He 
knew  only  thus  much  of  a  period  of  several  days, 
"  that  his  head  was  very  confused,  and  that  he 
dreamt  all  manner  of  nonsense."  He  did  not  even 
remember  the  substance  of  his  dreams  ;  only  one 
or  two  circumstances  i-emained  in  his  memory ;  for 


JOHN   GEORGE    SORGEL.  227 

instance,  that  the  judge  had  visited  him  in  prison, 
and  that  some  one  had  written  at  the  table.  He 
was  not  aware  either  that  he  was  himself  the  prin- 
cipal person  conceraed  on  that  occasion,  that  the 
subject  of  the  inquiry  was  his  own  deed,  or  that  he 
had  confessed  it. 

It  is  well  known  that  in  madness  or  delirium 
the  patient  often  appears  to  himself  to  be  a  third, 
person,  or  ascribes  his  own  feelings  and  actions  to 
some  one  else.  Thus  a  fever  patient  begs  his 
imrse  to  remove  that  troublesome  guest  out  of  his 
bed,  pointing  all  the  while  to  himself,  or  says  that 
a  fi-iend  sitting  by  his  bedside  has  a  violent  pain 
in  the  side,  or  is  thirsty,  and  requests  that  some- 
thing may  be  given  him  to  drink  ;  while  it  is  he 
himself  who  feels  the  pain  and  the  thirst  which  he 
ascribes  to  another.  This  singular  confusion  of 
persons  occurs  twice  in  Sorgel's  madness,  and 
proves  its  reality  and  the  truth  of  his  confession : 
and  also  that  the  confessiou  was  made  during  the 
paroxysm  of  insanity,  as  in  it  he  relates  these  delu- 
sions as  positive  facts. 

The  first  instance  of  this  delusion  was  that 
which  prompted  him  to  drink  the  blood  of  the 
murdei-ed  man.  After  he  had  recovered  his  sen- 
ses he  was  perfectly  well  able  to  distinguish  a 
felon  from  a  murdered  man.  Thus  his  application 
of  the  vulgar  superstition  that  the  blood  of  an  exe- 
cuted felon  is  a  cure  for  the  falling  sickness,  to  the 
man  he  had  himself  killed,  was  no  doubt  entirely 
the  result  of  this  delusion.  His  imagination  trans- 
ferred to  the  person  of  the  murdered  man  that 
which  he  knew  himself  to  have  become  by  the 
deed  he  had  committed. 

We  find  exactly  the  same  conflision  in  the  motive 
which  Induced  him  to  chop  off  the  feet  of  the  mur- 
dered man.  He  constantly  asserted  that  he  had 
done  this  in  order  to  prevent  their  laying  the  old 


228  REMARKABLE    CRIMINAL    TRIALS. 

man  in  chains  again.  Now  Sorgcl  had  of  late  been 
freqviently  chained  himselt",  and  indeed  had  but  just 
been  released  from  the  chains  in  which  he  had 
lain  all  night,  and  possibly  still  felt  the  pressure  of 
the  rings  upon  his  ankles ;  and  here  again  his  dis- 
turbed imagination  confounded  his  o\vn  feet  with 
those  of  the  dead  man,  and  in  order  to  secure  him- 
self from  the  danger  of  being  laid  in  chains  in 
future,  on  the  presumption  that  a  man  who  has  no 
feet  cannot  be  chained  by  them,  he  chopped  off 
both  the  feet  of  the  dead  wood-cutter. 

The  physicians  declared  their  opinion  that  Sor 
gel  had    committed  the  murder  in  a  paroxysm  of 
madness,   when   he   was  not   accountable  for    l)is 
actions,   and  accordingly  the   court,   on   the    23d 
November,  1824,  acquitted  him  of  murder. 

For  the  safety  of  the  community  he  was  confined 
in  the  madhouse  of  Schwabach,  where  he  died  in 
the  course  of  a  few  months. 


GEORGE    WACHS; 


OR, 


THE  SUDDEN  TEMPTATION. 


About  two  miles  beyond  Vilsbiburg,  in  the  dis- 
trict of  the  Isar,  on  an  eminence  at  two  hundred 
paces  from  several  mills,  stands  a  solitary  cottage 
called  the  Raschenhiiuschen.  This  belonged  .to  a 
poor  honest  shoemaker  of  about  forty-two  years  of 
ao-e,  named  James  Huber,  who  lived  there  with  his 
wife  Elisabeth  and  his  three  children — Catherine, 
a  girl  of  nine  ;  Michael,  a  boy  of  three  ;  and  a  baby 
of  two  months  old.  One  half  of  the  cottage,  with 
a  separate  entrance,  was  let  to  a  day -laborer  called 
Maier,  and  his  family. 

Maier  returned  from  his  day's  labor  with  his 
wife  at  about  half-past  six  in  the  evening  of  Maun- 
day  Thursday,  8th  of  April,  1819,  and  was  sur- 
prised at  the  unusual  quiet  of  his  neighbor's  cottage ; 
none  of  the  shoemaker's  family  were  to  be  seen  or 
heard.  Maier's  sister-in-law,  Maria  Wieser,  who 
had  stayed  at  home  all  day,  had  seen  the  shoe- 
maker's wife  leave  her  house  at  about  three  and 
return  home  at  six :  she  had  heard  her  knock  at 
the  door  and  laugh  aloud  when  it  was  opened  to 
her,  as  if  she  was  astonished  at  finding  the  door 
locked  so  early  in  the  day,  or  as  if  some  unexpect- 
ed guest  had  advanced  to  meet  her  as  she  crossed 
the  threshold.  Since  that  time  Maria  Wieser  had 
seen  nothing  of  the  shoemaker's  family.  On  the 
following  morning,  too,  the  Hubers  gave  no  token 


230  REMARKABLE    CRIMINAL    TRIALS. 

of  their  existence :  no  smoke  came  out  of  their 
chimney,  the  house-door  remained  closed  ;  nothing 
stirred  within,  and  continued  knocking  and  calling 
produced  no  effect. 

At  length,  the  daughter  Catherine,  with  her  face 
hloody  and  disfigured,  looked  out  of  the  upper 
window,  but  was  too  much  frightened  to  come 
down.  After  many  earnest  entreaties  she  at  length 
opened  the  house-door.  The  first  object  that  met 
the  eyes  of  those  who  entered  was  the  corpse  of 
Elisabeth  Huber  bathed  in  blood.  The  body  of 
little  Michael  was  next  found  rolled  up  like  a  hedge- 
lion-  between  the  lowest  step  of  the  stairs  which 
led  to  the  upper  floor  and  a  chest  near  them.  The 
shoemaker's  large  iron  hammer  lay  on  the  floor  of 
the  workshop,  which  w^as  covered  with  blood,  more 
especially  all  round  the  bench,  which  was  upset : 
on  the  floor  of  the  bed-room,  near  the  bed,  Huber 
was  found  lying  dead  with  his  face  towards  the 
ground.  On  the  bed,  near  its  father's  dead  body, 
the  infant  slept  unhurt,  though  half-starved  with 
cold.  All  the  bodies  were  in  their  usual  dresses, 
and  the  shoemaker  had  on  his  leathern  apron. 

As  there  were  no  traces  of  violence  on  the  out- 
side of  the  house  which  might  lead  to  the  supposi- 
tion of  housebreakers,  the  first  impression  was  that 
the  family  might  have  done  the  deed  themselves ; 
but  the  ovei'turned  stool,  round  which  was  a  pool 
of  blood,  and  the  awl  drawn  half  through  some 
leather  which  lay  upon  the  table — these  and  sev- 
eral other  circumstances  clearly  proved  that  the 
shoemaker  must  have  been  struck  down  suddenly 
while  seated  at  his  work,  and  afterwards  dragged 
into  the  bed-room  ;  besides,  the  appearance  of  the 
upper  rooms  proved  that  a  robbery  had  been  com- 
mitted there.  Several  closets  had  been  broken 
open  with  some  sharp  instrument,  their  contents 
tossed  about  in  great  disorder,  and  a  hatband  and 


GEORGE    WACHS.  231 

buckle,  which  was  probably  of  silver,  cut  off  the 
shoemaker's  hat.  The  first  glance,  therefore, 
proved  beyond  doubt  that  this  triple  murder  must 
have  been  committed  by  one  or  more  robbers,  who 
had  either  stolen  into  the  house  during  the  day,  or 
found  some  pretext  for  staying  there  openly. 

The  fullowing  was  the  result  of  the  post-mortem 
examination  of  the  bodies  which  took  place  a  few 
hours  after  the  discovery  of  the  mui'ders. 

The  corpse  of  Elisabeth  Huber,  a  healthy  wo- 
man of  about  six-and-thirty,  bore  no  trace  of  injury 
except  upon  the  head.  Two  deep  triangular 
wounds,  each  three  inches  in  diameter,  which  pen- 
eti'ated  the  skull,  disfigured  her  swollen  face — one 
at  the  corner  of  the  left  eye,  the  other  just  above 
the  left  temple  :  the  forehead  and  the  bridge  of  the 
nose  were  likewise  completely  crushed — the  heavy 
iron  hammer  found  on  the  floor  of  the  workshop 
exactly  fitted  the  wounds. 

The  corpse  of  James  Huber  also  showed  no 
traces  of  injury  save  about  the  head,  the  back  of 
which  was  completely  shattered. 

Neither  the  head  nor  the  face  of  the  boy  Michael 
had  any  external  wound,  but  were  much  swollen : 
the  skull  was  as  soft  as  dough  :  the  frontal  bone,  the 
temple,  and  the  occiput  were  broken  into  innumer- 
able fragments  ;  the  rest  of  the  body  was  uninjured. 

The  daughter  Catherine  was  severely  but  not 
dangerously  wounded.  The  left  side  of  her  face 
was  swollen  and  covered  with  blood,  and  her  eye 
closed  up  ;  an  oblique  flesh  wound,  about  an  inch 
and  a  half  in  length,  and  a  gi-eat  deal  of  blood,  ap- 
peared on  the  back  of  her  head,  and  also  a  contu- 
sion on  the  left  shoulder. 

There  could  not  be  the  slightest  doubt  as  to  the 
mortal  nature  of  the  injuries  inflicted  on  the  three 
dead  bodies.  The  medical  men  were  unanimous 
in  their  opinion  that  all  three  had  been  murdered 


232  REMARKABLE    CRIMINAL    TRIALS. 

with  the  shoemalver's  hammer :  this  was  of  iron, 
weighing  about  two  poiuuls,  and  the  handle  was  a 
foot  long. 

The  strongest  suspicion  against  the  perpetrator 
arose  simultaneously  with  its  discovery.  The 
daughter  who  had  escaped  gave  the  first  link  in  the 
chain  of  evidence.  She  could  not,  indeed,  as  yet 
be  judicially  examined,  as  she  was  still  suffering 
from  fever,  and  was  always  either  asleep  or  in  a 
state  of  stupor ;  meanwhile,  however,  the  neighbors 
and  others  extiacted  thus  much  from  her,  "  that 
she  had  been  struck  down  in  the  house  by  a  man 
with  a  blue  coat  and  a  high  hat ;  that  this  man  had 
frequently  been  at  her  father's  house  before;  that 
he  had  been  there  on  the  previous  Thursday,  and 
had  sat  for  a  lonar  time  with  her  father  in  his  work- 
shop."  This  information  was  confirmed  by  the 
statement  of  Maier's  sister-in-law.  She  said  that 
on  Maunday  Thursday,  towards  three  o'clock  in 
the  afternoon,  she  had  seen  a  young  man  answer- 
ing to  Catherine's  description  enter  the  shoemaker's 

house.     Soon  after,  the  miller's  son,  James  S , 

went  into  the  house,  as  she  heard,  to  cut  the  shoe- 
maker's hair.  She  had  seen  the  yoinig  man,  whose 
name  was  unknown  to  her,  but  who,  as  she  had 
heard,  lived  with  Schneeweisser,  the  carpenter,  in 
the  village  of  Soiling,  some  fourteen  days  before  in 
the  shoemaker's  shop,  where  his  boots  were  being 
mended  :  she  had  likewise  heai'd  from  the  children 
of  the  miller  that  at  five  o'clock  in  the  evening  of 
Maunday  Thursday  he  was  still  at  the  shoemaker's 
cottage.     The    above-named  miller's   son,   James 

S ,  related  at  his  examination  of  the  10th  of  April, 

"  that  at  about  three  o'clock  on  the  Sth  of  April,  he 
had  at  the  shoemaker's  request  gone  to  him,  and 
had  cut  his  hair ;  besides  the  shoemaker,  his  wife 
and  children,  he  had  found  a  young  man  who  he 
believed  lived  with  Schneeweisser,  the  carpenter, 


GEORGE    WACHS.  233 

at  Soiling.  The  shoemaker  begged  the  lad,  who 
had  already  taken  off  his  boot,  to  wait  until  his  hair 
was  cut,  when  he  would  serve  him.  The  young 
man  said  nothing  while  witness  was  present,  but 
stared  wildly  about  him,  and  seemed  rather  drunk. 
He  had  seen  the  same  man  at  the  public-house 
(the  Post)  at  Vilsbiburg  on  the  day  when  the  mur- 
der was  discovered :  everybody  there  was  talking 
about  it :  this  lad  only  said  nothing,  but  kept  his 
eyes  fixed  upon  high,  and  "  I  thought,"  said  wit- 
ness, "  that  as  he  took  no  part  in  the  conversation, 
it  must  be  disagreeable  to  him.  I  don't  know 
what  to  make  of  him,  but  I  can't  help  thinking  that 
he  must  be  the  man,  otherwise  he  would  surely 
have  lamented  over  such  a  misfortune,  like  every 
one  else  :  he  alone  said  nothing,  althouQ:h  he  had 
been  with  the  shoemaker  the  day  before." 

It  was  immediately  discovered,  fi-om  the  accu- 
rate descriptions,  that  the  unknowTi  person  could 
be  no  other  than  George  Wachs,  an  apprentice  of 
Schneeweisser,  the  carpenter,  at  Soiling.  He  was 
arrested  during  the  night  of  the  10th  of  April,  and 
several  suspicious  articles,  particularly  two  silver 
hat-buckles,  were  found  concealed  in  his  trowsers. 
Early  next  morning  (Easter  Sunday),  when  the 
jailer  entered  his  cell,  the  accused  came  forwards 
of  his  own  accord,  and  said,  "  I  must  own  that  I  am 
the  murderer  of  the  shoemaker  and  his  family  :  it  is 
all  over  with  me :  I  should  have  confessed  to-day, 
and  then  have  given  myself  up  to  justice."  He 
was  forced  to  make  his  Easter  confession  to  the 
judge,  instead  of  to  his  confessor. 

George  Wachs,  bom  of  Catholic  parents  at  Sol- 
ling,  in  the  circuit  of  Moosburg,  on  the  17th  of 
April,  1800,  and,  accordingly,  only  nineteen  years 
of  age  when  he  committed  this  crime,  was  the  son 
of  a  small  farmer,  who  also  worked  as  a  day- 
laborer.     His  parents,  who  were  both  living  when 

V  2 


234  REMARKABLE    CRIMINAL    TRIALS. 

their  only  son  was  brought  to  trial,  were  gener- 
ally described  as  very  worthy  people,  who  had 
sent  him  to  school  from  his  earliest  youth,  and  had 
endeavored  to  keep  him  straight  by  their  advice 
and  example.  His  moral  conduct  as  a  boy  was 
not  worse  than  that  of  others.  On  leaving  school 
he  was  bound  apprentice  to  a  miller  at  Freising, 
who  was  perfectly  satisfied  with  him,  and  who  gave 
him  his  freedom  after  three  years'  service,  on  the 
7th  of  April,  1817.  He  then  served  as  a  miller's 
boy  at  several  places  in  the  district  of  the  Isar, 
everywhere  earning  a  character  for  diligence  and 
good  conduct.  But  his  eighteenth  year  was  the 
turning  point  in  his  moral  life.  He  was  out  of 
work  from  the  16th  of  August,  1818,  and  either 
stayed  at  home  with  his  parents  or  wandered  about 
the  countiy  seeking  employment,  and  working 
now  and  then  as  a  day-laborer.  In  the  following 
October,  while  working  under  a  stone-mason  at 
Moosburg,  he  stole  from  the  wife  of  his  employer 
fifty  florins  (according  to  her  account  ninety-eight 
florins),  and  would  have  been  delivered  over  to 
justice,  had  not  his  father — perhaps  unfortunately 
for  him — been  induced  for  the  sake  of  his  own 
honor,  as  well  as  by  affection  for  his  son,  to  make 
full  restitution.  At  length,  on  the  25th  of  Decem- 
ber, 1818,  he  entered  the  service  of  the  miller 
Ingerl,  at  Gerzen,  who  dismissed  him  after  three 
months.  "  I  turned  the  fellow  off","  says  Ingerl, 
*'  simply  because  his  labor  was  not  worth  a  farth- 
ing, and  he  was  always  ruiming  after  women ; 
besides,  he  was  a  reckless,  dissolute,  riotous  fellow, 
who  had  no  regard  for  Christianity,  and  was  disa- 
greeable to  me  on  account  of  his  impudent  and 
licentious  conduct."  This  young  man's  immoder- 
ate taste  for  women  fully  accounts  for  the  sudden- 
ness of  the  change  in  his  moral  nature.  Wanton- 
ness  made  him  riotous,  disorderly,  and  lazy  ;  love 


GEORGE   WACHS.  235 

of  women  made  him  vain  and  fond  of  dress,  and 
vanity  made  him  rapacious,  until  he  became  first 
a  thief,  and  then  a  murdei'er. 

After  Ingerl,  the  millei-,  had  dismissed  him  from 
his  service,  on  the  17th  of  March,  1819,  he  all  at 
once  gave  up  his  business,  and  bound  himself 
apprentice  to  a  master  carpenter  at  Soiling,  of  the 
name  of  Schneevveisser,  in  the  hope  of  succeeding 
better  in  that  line.  But  scarce  had  he  been  a 
fortnight  in  his  new  trade  when  he,  who  had 
till  then  been  known  merely  as  a  wanton,  jovial, 
reckless  youth,  proved,  by  a  deed  of  which  no  one 
suspected  him  capable,  the  truth  of  the  old  saying, 
that  there  is  no  propensity,  even  one  apparently 
harmless,  which  may  not,  when  fostered  by  cir- 
cumstances, grow  into  an  irresistible  passion,  and 
hurry  a  man  into  the  commission  of  monstrous 
crimes. 

With  his  master's  leave,  Wachs  left  home  at  eight 
o'clock  in  the  morning  of  Maunday  Thursday,  the 
8th  of  April,  with  the  intention  of  making  his 
Easter  confession  at  Vilsbiburg.  On  his  way  he 
met  Matthias  Hingerl,  a  peasant's  son,  who  was 
g-oiiig-  to  the  same  village  to  fetch  his  watch,  which 
he  had  left  to  be  mended  at  a  watchmaker's,  and 
which  he  wanted  to  wear  during  the  approaching 
Easter  festivities. 

George  Wachs  having  unexpectedly  found  an 
ao^reeable  companion,  thought  that  any  other  day  in 
the  week  would  do  as  well  for  confessing,  and 
spent  the  greater  part  of  the  morning  at  Vilsbi- 
burg, not  in  church,  but  in  the  public-houses,  drink- 
ing beer,  and  talking  chiefly  about  women  and  his 
own  adventures.  Hingerl  showed  him  his  watch, 
which  he  had  fetched  from  the  watchmaker ;  and 
although  George  Wachs  said  nothing  at  the  time, 
we  may  infer  from  what  subsequently  happened, 
that  the  sight  of  this  enviable  possession  painfully 


236  REMARKABLE    CRIMINAL    TRIALS. 

recalled  to  his  recollection  that  although  he  cer- 
tainly had  good  clothes  for  the  next  Easter  Sun- 
day, ho  was  still  without  a  watch. 

At  about  noon  they  both  went  merrily  towards 
home,  but  stopped  by  the  way  at  a  village,  where 
they  drank  three  quaits  more  of  beer,  and  then 
continued  their  journey.  George  Wachs,  who,  as 
well  as  his  companion,  had  drunk  a  good  deal,  but 
not  enough  to  affect  his  senses,  was  exceedingly 
merry  and  noisy,  sung  and  rolled  his  hat  along  be- 
fore him,  ran  after  it,  and  played  all  manner  of 
childish  tricks.  After  accompanying  Hingerl  about 
two  miles  farther,  he  took  leave  of  him,  and  said 
that  he  was  going  to  turn  back,  but  did  not  say 
whither  he  was  going  or  what  he  wanted.  Hin- 
gerl had,  however,  previously  remarked  that  Wachs 
walked  lame,  and  on  asking  the  reason,  Wachs  told 
him  that  he  had  cut  his  foot  with  a  hatchet,  and 
must  have  his  boot  mended  before  Easter  Sun- 
day. 

With  this  object  only,  so  at  least  the  accused 
declared  on  every  examination,  he  turned  back 
and  went  to  the  shoemaker's  house,  which  he 
reached  at  about  three,  and  where  he  found  the 
shoemaker's  wife  and  children,  and  some  girls 
from  the  neighboring  mill.     Before  long,  James 

S came  in  and  cut  the  shoemaker's  hair,  after 

which  he  went  away  again.  It  was  not  till  then 
that  the  shoemaker  set  to  work  upon  Wachs' 
boot;  Wachs  meanwhile  played  with  the  children, 
and  took  particular  notice  of  little  Michael,  to 
whom  he  gave  a  carnival-cake.  After  his  boot 
had  been  mended,  and  he  had  stayed  some  time 
with  the  shoemaker,  he  wished,  according  to  his 
own  account  at  least,  to  go  away  at  about  four 
o'clock,  and  asked  the  shoemaker  whether  his 
clock  was  right  ?  whereupon  the  latter  told  him 
that  it  was  too  slow  by  a  f{uarter  of  an  hour,  and 


GEOllGE    WACHS.  237 

desired  his  wife  to  fetch  him  his  silver  watch  from 
up-stairs  that  he  might  wind  it  up.  After  bringing 
the  watch  to  her  husband,  who  wound  it  uj:),  and 
hung  it  upon  a  nail  in  the  wall  beside  him,  she  left 
the  house  and  went  to  Soiling  to  buy  fish  for  the 
next  day.  The  children  also  went  out  to  play  in 
the  garden  with  their  companions,  and  George 
Wachs  was  left  alone  with  the  shoemaker  in  the 
workshop.  Wachs  asserted  that  he  would  have 
gone  away  with  the  wife,  had  not  the  shoemaker 
detained  him,  saying,  "  Stop  a  bit  longer ;  you  can- 
not do  much  more  to-day,  and  I  shall  be  dull  all 
by  myself" 

The  wife  was  very  unwilling  to  leave  the  stranger 
alone  with  her  husband.  At  Soiling,  she  told  Mary 
Z ,  that  "  Schneeweisser's  apj^rentice  had  al- 
ready been  three  hours  at  her  house ;  that  the  young 
man  was  drunk,  and  that  she  disliked  his  way  of 
talking,  which  was  so  strange  that  it  made  her 
laugh  at  one  moment,  and  frightened  her  the 
next."  A  fortnight  before  this,  Wachs  had  been 
at  the  shoemaker's  on  a  Sunday  morning  to  have 
his  boots  mended,  and  she  now  said  to  Mary 
Wieser,  "  That  fellow  is  at  my  house  whom  I 
dislike  for  comino'  durins:  church  time  —  I  cannot 
bear  him."  This  foreboding  was  soon  terribly 
fulfilled  on  her  husband,  her  children,  and  her- 
self. 

"  Wlien  the  woman  was  gone"  —  these  ai-e  the 
criminal's  own  words  —  "we  talked  over  a  variety 
of  indifferent  matters,  and  for  a  long  while  no  evil 
thought  crossed  my  mind,  although  the  watch  was 
hanging  before  my  eyes  the  whole  time.  All  at 
once  it  struck  me  how  beautiful  the  watch  was.  I 
took  it  from  the  wall,  examined  it  closely,  opened 
it,  and  asked  the  shoemaker  how  much  it  had  cost. 
He  told  me  that,  with  a  silver  chain  and  seal,  the 
watch  had  cost  fourteen  florins,  but  that  the  chain 


238  REMARKABLE    CRIMINAL    TRIALS. 

was  up-stairs  in  the  cupboard,  as  he  only  wore  it 
on  hoHdays,  when  I  should  be  able  to  see  it.  I 
remarked  that  1  had  a  mind  to  buy  them,  if  I 
could  ever  get  together  enough  money,  and  he  ap- 
peared quite  willing  to  sell  them.  1  could  not  get 
the  watch  out  of  my  head  :  I  walked  up  and  down 
the  room  with  my  eyes  fixed  upon  it,  and  the 
thought  struck  me  that  I  would  run  oft'  with  it  as 
soon  as  the  shoemaker  had  left  the  loom.  But  he 
never  stirred  from  his  seat,  and  continued  hard  at 
work  upon  the  upper-leathers  of  a  pair  of  shoes. 
The  desire  for  the  watch  gi-ew  upon  me  every 
inoment,  and  as  I  walked  up  and  down  the  room, 
1  turned  over  in  my  own  mind  how  I  could  get 
possession  of  it ;  and  as  the  shoemaker  still  sat  at 
his  work,  it  suddenly  came  across  me  —  suppose  I 
were  to  kill  him  ]  There  lay  the  hammer :  I  took 
it  up  before  the  shoemaker's  face  and  pretended  to 
play  with  it ;  but  I  did  not  hit  him  directly,  be- 
cause I  kept  thinking  to  myself  that  I  ought  not  to 
kill  him.  I  walked  up  and  down  behind  his  back 
for  some  minutes  with  the  hammer  in  my  hand,  but 
still  in  doubt.  Then  my  longing  after  the  watch 
gained  the  upper  hand,  and  I  said  to  myself,  Now 
is  the  time,  otherwise  the  wife  will  be  here  too  ! 
And  just  as  the  shoemaker  was  most  busily  at 
work,  I  raised  the  hammer  and  struck  him  with  it 
as  hard  as  I  could  on  the  left  temple :  he  fell  from 
his  seat  covered  with  blood,  and  never  moved  or 
uttered  a  sound.  I  felt  sure  that  I  could  kill  him 
with  one  blow.  I  should  think  that  a  quarter  of  an 
hour  must  have  clasped  while  I  went  up  and  down 
the  room  thinking  how  1  could  got  the  watch  ;  at 
length  I  struck  the  blow,  and  this  was  my  last  and 
worst  thought. 

"  It  must  have  been  in  an  unlucky  hour  that  the 
desire  for  the  watch  took  so  strong  a  hold  of  me. 
I  had  never  thought  about  it  before ;  nor  should  I 


GEORGE    WACHS.  239 

have  entered  the  shoemaker's  house,  but  for  my 
torn  boot. 

"  As  soon  as  the  shoemaker  was  down,  I  put  the 
watch  into  my  pocket  and  went  up-stairs  to  look 
for  the  chain.  The  key  was  in  the  door  of  the 
closet  in  the  upper  bed-room  ;  and  as  I  thought 
that  they  were  sure  to  keep  their  best  things  there, 
I  looked  in  it  for  the  chain,  which  I  did  not  find ; 
but  there  were  two  sheep-skins,  which  I  took. 
Just  as  I  was  going  down-stairs  with  the  sheep- 
skins, I  saw  two  other  closets  on  the  landing ;  I 
therefore  turned  back  and  broke  them  open  with  a 
hoe  :  thinking  that  perhaps  I  should  now  find  the 
chain  which  belonged  to  the  watch,  I  turned  every- 
thing over,  but  did  not  find  the  chain  ;  however  I 
did  find  six  florins  in  half-florin  pieces,  thirty 
kreutzers,  and  a  silver  hat-buckle.  In  the  same 
place  also  was  a  hat  with  a  silver  filigree  buckle, 
which  I  cut  off",  and  put  in  my  pocket."  (He 
then  enumerated  all  the  articles  which  he  had 
found  in  the  second  closet,  and  which  he  had 
taken ;  the  value  of  all  he  stole,  including  the 
watch,  which  had  cost  nine  florins,  amounted  to 
about  thii'ty-three  florins,  or  21.  15s.)  He  then 
proceeded  : — "My  chief  object  still  was  to  find  the 
silver  chain,  and  it  was  only  during  my  search  for 
it  that  the  other  things  fell  in  my  way,  and  that  I 
took  them. 

"  When  I  had  got  all  these  things,  I  returned  to 
the  workshop  to  take  a  piece  of  leather,  and  per- 
ceived that  the  shoemaker  still  breathed ;  I  there- 
fore gave  him  a  few  more  blows  on  the  temple 
with  the  hammer,  and  then  I  thought  that  I  had 
better  remove  him  into  the  bed-chamber,  so  that 
his  wife  might  not  see  him  immediately  upon  enter- 
ing the  house.  I  accordingly  dragged  him  out  of 
the  shop  into  the  chamber  near  the  bed." 

George  Wachs  had  now  attained  his  object,  with 


240  RKMARKABLE   CRIMINAL    TRIALS. 

the  exception  of  the  missing  chain.  There  was 
nothing  more  to  be  got ;  but  one  crime  leads  to 
another.  In  this  case  the  words  of  Macbeth  proved 
but  too  true — 

"  Things  bad  begun,  make  strong  themselves  by  ill." 

After  dragging  the  murdered  man  into  the 
chamber,  and  tilHng  his  own  pockets  with  leather 
enough  to  make  a  pair  of  boots,  in  addition  to  the 
other  articles,  George  Wachs  was  on  the  point  of 
leaving  the  house,  when  the  two  children  met  him 
at  the  door  on  their  return  fi-om  play.  These 
childi-en  had  seen  him  during  nearly  half  the  day, 
and  knew  him  :  if  they  remained  alive  he  was  be- 
trayed. There  could  be  no  doubt  as  to  what  his 
safety  i-equired  :  no  choice  was  left  him  :  the  thought 
and  the  deed  were  one.  He  seized  the  little  boy, 
and  dashed  him  upon  the  ground  at  the  foot  of  the 
stairs  with  such  violence,  that  the  death-rattle  was 
in  his  throat  in  a  moment.  He  then  flung  Catherine 
with  equal  violence  under  the  stairs  among  a  mass 
of  wood  and  iron  ;  but  the  gii'l,  after  lying  stunned 
for  a  short  time,  got  up  again  and  endeavored  to 
reach  the  inner  room  to  seek  protection  from  her 
father :  the  murderer  then  took  up  the  hammer 
from  the  ground,  struck  the  child  with  it  about  tlie 
face  and  head,  and  again  threw  her  under  the 
stairs  among  a  heap  of  old  wood  and  iron,  where 
she  lay  motionless,  and  he  concluded  her  to  be 
dead.  Little  Michael,  however,  still  breathed. 
"  When  I  saw,"  continued  the  murderer,  "that  1 
had  thrown  him  with  such  violence  that  he  could 
not  survive,  I  gave  him  a  few  blows  on  the  head 
with  the  hammer  to  put  him  out  of  his  miseiy.  I 
then  threw  him  between  the  steps  and  an  old  chest, 
BO  that  they  might  not  find  him  directly." 

This  second  business  was  now  over  ;  but,  before 
ho  was  well   aware  of  it,  a  bloody  haiTest  had 


GEORGE    WACHS.  241 

sprung  up  under  bis  hands  from  the  seeds  he  had 
sown. 

As  soon  as  the  children  had  shared  their  father's 
fate  he  again  prepared  for  flight,  but  first  looked 
out  at  the  window  to  see  whether  any  one  was 
near  who  might  observe  him.  Just  then  a  man 
drove  by  in  a  cart,  and  he  was  forced  to  wait  until 
it  was  out  of  sight.  At  last  he  thought  he  might 
escape  in  safety,  but  on  putting  his  head  out  at  the 
door  to  see  if  any  one  was  near,  he  beheld  the 
shoemaker's  wife  returning  from  Soiling  :  she  had 
already  turaed  off  the  road  into  her  garden,  and 
was  only  a  few  steps  from  the  house,  which  he 
could  not  leave  without  running  directly  into  her 
hands.  It  was  clear,  then,  that  he  must  stay  and 
murder  her  too,  as  he  had  already  murdered  her 
husband  and  children.  "  When  I  saw  the  woman 
comhig,  I  said  to  myself,  Now  I  cannot  escape;  I 
am  lost,  and  must  kill  her  too.  So  I  shut  the  door, 
seized  the  hammer,  and  held  it  with  one  hand 
hidden  under  my  coat,  while  I  opened  the  dooi- 
with  the  other :  the  shoemaker's  wife  entered 
laughing,  and  said,  Why,  you  have  locked  yourselves 
in  !  I  made  no  answer.  As  soon  as  she  entered 
the  room  she  turned  towards  the  chest  which 
stood  near  the  entrance,  and  which  I  had  left  open 
after  my  search  for  the  chain.  I  stood  behind  her, 
nearest  the  door,  and  before  she  was  aware  of  it  I 
sti-uck  her  such  a  heavy  blow  Avith  the  hammer  on 
the  left  temple,  that  she  instantly  fell  close  to  the 
chest,  and  only  cried  in  a  low  voice,  Jesus  Maria ! 
I  saw  that  she  could  not  recover,  and  gave  her 
several  more  blows  as  she  lay  on  the  floor,  to  put 
her  out  of  her  misery.  I  then  dragged  her  on  one 
side  towards  the  inner  room,  so  that  people  should 
not  tread  upon  her  as  they  entered  the  house. 

"  I  then  went  into  the  inner  room,  threw  a  nap- 
kin full  of  eo-o-s,  which  the  woman  had  brought, 
1(3  "  X 


242  REMARKABLE    CRIMINAL    TRIALS. 

behind  the  grate,  and  the  hammer  on  the  gi-ound, 
hastily  took  up  tlie  little  baby  which  was  lying  on 
the  bencli,  and  laid  it  upon  the  bed  in  the  back 
room  for  fear  it  should  lull  and  be  hurt.  I  then 
left  the  house  in  perfect  security,  locked  the  front 
door,  and  went  straight  home  to  my  master's  house, 
whei'e  I  annved  at  about  half-past  six.* 

"  The  whole  affair  could  not  have  lasted  an  hour. 
It  was  past  five  when  I  struck  the  shoemaker,  and 
by  six  the  wife  was  killed. 

"  If  it  had  not  been  for  the  watch-chain,  I  should 
not  have  got  into  all  this  trouble,  and  nobody  would 
have  been  killed  but  the  shoemaker.  I  never  once 
thousfht  of  killing:  the  wife  and  the  children." 

That  he  was  at  the  time  in  perfect  possession  of 
all  his  faculties,  and  not  in  a  state  of  furious  drunk- 
enness, is  proved  by  the  nature  of  the  crime  itself, 
as  well  as  by  his  own  confession.  "  I  felt  a  little 
the  worse  for  liquor,  but  I  knew  all  the  while  what 
I  was  about,  otherwise  I  could  never  have  done  all 
I  did.  I  cannot  tell  what  possessed  me,  but  I  was 
very  meiTy  and  joyous  all  that  day." 

An  eyewitness  was  present  at  the  murder  of  the 
woman  and  of  the  little  boy,  upon  whom  the 
criminal  had  by  no  means  reckoned — this  was  the 
daughter  Catherine,  who  gave  her  evidence  before 
the  court  on  the  30th  of  April,  after  she  had  suffi- 
ciently recovered  from  her  injuries.  It  will  be  in- 
teresting to  hear  the  most  important  part  of  the 
testimony  given  by  this  child,  though  legally  an 
incompetent  witness.  After  giving  a  detailed  ac- 
count of  the  arrival  of  the  carpenter's  apprentice  at 
her  father's  house,  her  mother's  departure  for 
Soiling,  and  the  children's  going  into  the  garden 

*  It  is  strange  that  all  these  murders  left  no  mark  of  blood 
either  on  the  clothes  or  the  body  of  the  murderer;  there  were 
only,  as  he  says,  a  few  spots  on  his  boots,  which  he  easily  wiped 
away. 


GEORGE    WACHS.  243 

to  play,  she  proceeded  thus  : — "  We  children 
stayed  out  together  a  long  time,  and  as  we  entered 
the  house  the  carpenter's  man  came  towards  us 
and  threw  us  against  the  stairs :  my  brother 
presently  began  to  move,  and  the  man  hit  him  on 
the  head  with  my  father's  hammer.  I  got  up 
again  and  tried  to  get  to  the  inner  room  to  seek 
help  from  my  father ;  but  the  man  caught  hold  of 
me,  and  struck  me  over  my  eye  with  the  broad  end 
of  the  hammer,  and  on  the  back  of  my  head  and 
shoulders  with  the  shai-p  end,  and  threw  me  once 
more  under  the  stairs.  I  did  not  dare  to  move 
again,  and  pretended  to  be  dead.  The  man  then 
went  to  the  door  and  looked  out,  but  came  back  in 
a  minute  and  shut  the  door,  and  then  I  heard  my 
mother  call.  Open  the  door !  The  man  let  her  in 
directly.  I  was  still  in  a  great  fright,  and  lay  as 
still  as  a  mouse,  and  all  at  once  the  man  struck  her 
such  a  blow  upon  the  head  with  the  hammer  that 
she  fell,  and  I  only  heard  her  cry  out  "Help  !" 
He  then  dragged  iny  mother  towards  the  inner 
room,  and  soon  after  went  out  of  the  door,  which 
he  shut  after  him." 

In  all  the  subsequent  examinations  the  accused 
adhered  to  his  first  confession,  and  only  repeated 
his  first  statements,  confirming  them  by  additional 
details,  so  that  a  perfectly  consistent  account  of 
the  whole  transaction  could  be  collected  fi'om  his 
various  confessions.  On  one  point  only  the  ac- 
cused attempted  to  depart  fi-om  his  first  confession, 
somewhat  in  his  own  favor.  In  the  first  general 
examination  he  confessed  in  so  many  words  that 
he  had  assaulted  the  two  children  Avith  intent  to 
murder  them.  "  I  should  have  murdered  only 
the  shoemaker,"  said  he,  "had  not  the  children 
come  in  just  as  I  was  about  to  leave  the  house ; 
and  as  they  knew  me,  I  was  forced  to  kill  them, 
lest    thev   should    betray   me  :    the    same    thing 


244  REMARKABLE   CRIMINAL    TRIALS. 

happened  with  the  shoemaker's  wife."  It  was 
evidently  from  shame  of  his  own  inhumanity  that 
he  afterwards  maintained  that  he  wished  only  to 
stun  the  children  so  that  they  should  not  betray 
him,  and  that  he  afterwards  killed  the  little  boy  out 
of  pity,  on  seeing  that  he  had  hit  him  too  hard. 
The  deed  itself,  and  the  motive  to  it  which  he 
had  so  frequently  declared,  sufficiently  refute  this 
wretched  prevarication.  In  order  to  prevent  the 
children  from  betraying  him,  it  would  not  suffice 
to  stun  them  :  the  dead  alone  tell  no  tales. 

The  truth  of  his  assertion  that  he  entered  the 
shoemaker's  shop  without  any  criminal  intention, 
and  that  it  was  not  until  the  watch  was  so  temjit- 
ingly  exhibited  befjre  his  eyes  tliat  the  idea  of 
murder  entered  his  mind,  seems  somewhat  doubt- 
ful. It  certainly  looks  suspicious  that  the  same 
man  should  have  murdered  another  for  the  sake 
of  his  watch  at  five  in  the  afternoon,  who  on  the 
morning  of  the  same  day  feasted  his  eyes  on  a 
watch  in  his  comrade's  possession.  And  as  it  ap- 
pears by  the  indictment  that  he  had  seen  the  shoe- 
maker's silver  watch  hanging  in  his  workshop  a 
fortnight  before,  it  seems  natural  to  conclude  that 
the  desire  of  possessing  it  was  then  excited,  and 
subsequently  much  increased  by  the  sight  of  his 
comrade's  watch.  By  this  presumption  we  may 
also  easily  account  for  his  suddenly  turning  back 
on  the  road  from  V'ilsbiburg,  his  unusually  long 
stay  at  the  shoemaker's  house,  and,  lastly,  for  his 
wild  looks  and  his  strange  way  of  talking. 

These  conjectures,  however,  lose  all  their  weight 
on  closer  examination.  From  first  to  last  the 
criminal  never  seems  to  have  acted  upon  any  prede- 
termined ])lan,  but  merely  to  have  obeyed  the  in- 
spiration of  the  moment,  and  to  have  yielded  to  the 
temptation  of  an  opportunity  created  by  the  coin- 
cidence of  several  accidental  circumstances.     It  is 


GEORGE    WACHS.  245 

impossible  to  calculate  chances  and  least  ot  all  a 
chance  made  up  of  a  variety  of  accidents.  Who- 
ever lays  a  scheme  for  some  predetermined  object, 
if  he  be  not  less  than  half-witted,  will  found  it  upon 
circumstances  more  or  less  within  his  control,  and 
not  upon  events  entirely  beyond  it,  and  merely 
dependent  upon  chance.  The  shoemaker's  cottage, 
though  lonely,  was  no  hermit's  cell.  One  half  of 
it  was  inhabited  by  the  day-laborer's  family  as  well 
as  by  his  own  :  the  accused  must  also  have  known 
that  the  shoemaker  was  likely  to  be  visited  by  a 
number  of  customers  just  before  the  Easter  holi- 
days. He  could  not  have  entertained  the  slightest 
expectation  of  finding  Huber  quite  alone,  or  of 
remaining  with  him  for  hours  undisturbed  by  the 
pi'esence  of  a  third  person.  When  he  entered 
Huber's  workshop  at  about  three  in  the  afternoon, 
he  could  by  no  means  have  guessed  that  the  wife 
would  go  to  a  distant  village,  or  that  both  the  chil- 
dren would  leave  the  house  and  stop  out  at  play 
above  an  hour.  A  man  who  goes  with  the  deliber- 
ate intention  to  murder  is  sure  to  determine  before- 
hand in  what  manner  and  with  what  instrument  he 
will  commit  the  crime.  He  does  not  trust  to  the 
chance  that  when  he  is  on  the  spot  luck  will  pro- 
vide him  with  a  knife,  a  dagger,  a  pistol,  a  hammer, 
or  some  other  instrument  of  death.  The  prison- 
er's statement  that  he  went  to  the  shoemaker's 
house  merely  to  get  his  boots  mended  was  by  no 
means  a  mei'e  pretence.  Matthias  Hingerl,  who 
accompanied  him  on  his  way  to  and  from  Vils- 
biburg,  saw  a  hole  in  his  boot,  and  heard  him 
say  that  he  must  get  it  mended  before  Easter. 
Thus  his  return  to  the  shoemaker's  house  has  in  it 
nothing  suspicious.  The  long  stay  of  a  fi-ivolous, 
lazy  young  man,  willing  to  idle  away  his  time,  is 
nothing  unusual,  especially  when  we  consider  that 
he  had  already  passed  the  greater  part  of  the  day 

x2 


24G  REMARKABLE    CRIMINAL    TRIALS. 

in  idleness,  drinking,  gossip,  and  all  sorts  of  follies, 
and  would  not  feel  disposed  to  spend  the  remain- 
der of  so  glorious  a  holiday  under  the  eye  of  his 
master,  and  perhaps  even  at  work.  The  wild 
look  which  one  witness  (James,  the  miller's  boy) 
says  he  observed  in  him  from  the  first,  is  to  be  at- 
tributed rather  to  drinking  and  rioting,  than  to  the 
effect  of  any  wicked  design  in  his  mind  ;  not  tcj 
mention  that  a  peasant  lad's  judgment  in  physiog- 
nomy does  not  deserve  implicit  confidence.  The 
antipathy  which  the  shoemaker's  wife  felt  towards 
him  had  been  shared  by  others  long  before  he  could 
possibly  have  had  any  thoughts  of  committing  mur- 
dei" :  indeed  the  miller,  Hingerl,  dismissed  him 
from  his  sei'vice  for  no  other  reason.  George 
Wachs,  by  nature  coarse,  frivolous,  and  dissolute, 
and  at  that  moment  heated  by  drinking,  brought 
the  uncouth  merriment  in  which  he  had  indulged 
dui-ing  his  walk  from  Vilsbiburg  with  him  into 
the  shoemaker's  house,  where  he  gave  a  loose  to 
his  coarse  nature  in  vulgar  loquacity,  and  in  foolish, 
wanton  jokes.  This  conduct  especially  on  a  sacred 
day,  and  in  a  person  who  had  already  wearied  her 
by  his  long  stay,  must  have  been  disgusting  and 
frightful  rather  than  laughable  to  a  quiet,  pious 
mother  of  a  family. 

We  may  therefore  accept  his  confession  exactly 
as  he  gave  it:  all  the  circumstances  agi'ee  so  well 
with  each  other,  and  form  so  accurate  a  picture 
of  the  workings  of  his  mind,  that  it  would  be  next 
to  impossible  lor  a  mere  peasant  to  invent  a  state- 
ment so  pei'fectly  true  to  nature. 

The  events  of  the  forenoon  had  already  filled  his 
imagination  with  the  idea  of  a  watch.  Hingerl  had 
gone  to  Vilsbiburg  on  purpose  to  fetch  home  his 
watch  from  the  watchmaker's,  and  George  Wachs 
had  to  wait  at  the  public-house  while  his  companion 
transacted  this  business.     When  Hingerl  rejoined 


GEORGE    WACHS.  247 

Wachs  he  naturally  talked  about  the  watch,  the 
possession  of  which  gave  him  double  pleasure  now 
that  it  had  been  mended  and  was  to  go  particularly 
well.  In  order  to  make  his  companion  share  his 
pleasure,  Hingerl  took  the  watch  out  of  his  pocket 
and  allowed  him  to  examine  it,  boasting  of  its  ex- 
cellence all  the  while.  George  Wachs  said  no- 
thing, but  it  was  impossible  that  so  vain  a  young 
man  should  not  envy  his  more  fortunate  companion, 
and  long  for  the  possession  of  a  similar  treasure. 
Thus,  without  any  guilty  thoughts  or  criminal  in- 
tentions, George  Wachs  was  prepared,  by  what  he 
had  seen,  heard,  and  felt  that  morning,  for  the 
temptation  which  afterwards  met  him  in  the  shoe- 
maker's house.  An  unhappy  chance  placed  before 
the  eyes  of  one  whose  thoughts  and  wishes  had  on 
that  very  morning  been  directed  towards  a  watch, 
just  such  another,  and  the  tempter,  opportunity, 
stood  by.  This  second  watch  was  not  merely 
shown  to  him  and  then  returned  to  its  case,  but 
was  hung  against  the  wall,  where  it  continued  to 
excite  his  desires :  he  could  not  avoid  seeing  it, 
and  the  longer  he  looked  the  more  inviting  did  it 
appear.  A  silver  chain  and  seal  likewise  belong- 
ed to  this  watch,  which  the  shoemaker  told  him 
were  so  fine  that  he  only  wore  them  on  holidays. 
This  watch,  with  its  fine  chain,  was  far  better  than 
that  which  he  had  coveted  in  his  companion's  pos- 
session. To  be  the  owner  of  such  a  treasure,  to 
appear  before  the  women  thus  adorned,  to  outshine 
all  his  companions,  was  indeed  a  tempting  vision 
for  a  vain  lad  of  nineteen  ;  and  in  this  vision  he  in- 
dulged until  liking  became  longing,  and  longing  un- 
governable passion.  For  a  time  his  yet  undefined 
wishes  hovered  round  their  object ;  he  took  down 
the  watch  from  the  wall,  examined  it  more  closely, 
and  talked  of  buying  it.  But  when  the  shoemaker 
agreed  to  sell  him  the  watch,  thus  placing  it  at  his 


248  REMARKABLE    CRIMINAL    TRIALS. 

disposal,  fresh  fuel  was  added  to  the  llames  whicli 
burned  -witliin  him.  Nothing  now  intruded  itself 
between  liis  desires  and  their  object  but  the  want 
of  a  small  sum  of  money,  which  he  did  not  possess 
and  could  not  hope  soon  to  obtain.  But  was  the 
most  intense  passion  of  his  heart,  the  object  on 
which  his  mind  was  fixed,  and  which  he  already 
fancied  his  own,  to  be  resigned  for  such  a  trifle? 
The  passions  always  choose  the  shortest  ])ath. 
There  hung  the  watch  before  his  eyes  ;  he  had  but 
to  stretch  out  his  arm  and  it  was  his :  no  one  was 
there  to  prevent  him  but  the  shoemaker,  who  7nust 
quit  the  room  or  die.  Thus  the  choice  lay  be- 
tween theft  and  murder;  the  former,  indeed,  rather 
than  the  latter,  but  he  was  equally  prepared  for 
the  one  or  the  other,  according  to  opportunity  and 
circumstances. 

The  most  sti'iking  feature  in  this  case  is  the  fear- 
ful spectacle  of  a  sudden  passion,  which  seized  on 
his  imagination  like  a  whirlwind  and  hurried  him 
on  to  perdition.  The  blinding,  maddening  influ- 
ence of  the  passions  was  exhibited  in  a  remarkable 
manner  in  his  conduct.  All  his  thoughts,  wishes, 
and  actions,  considered  as  means  for  accomplish- 
ing his  ends,  were  so  foolish  and  senseless,  that  we 
might  call  them  childish  but  for  their  extreme 
cruelty.  He  was  so  completely  wrapped  up  in  the 
object  of  his  desires  as  not  to  perceive  objections 
which  could  scarce  escape  the  observation  of  an 
ordinary  child.  He  first  waited  for  the  momentary 
absence  of  the  shoemaker  in  order  to  seize  the 
watch  and  run  off  with  it,  wliich  would  have  been 
much  the  same  thing  as  to  take  it  before  the  very 
eyes  of  its  owner :  the  thief  would  have  been  as 
certainly  known  in  the  first  as  in  the  latter  case. 
But  this  youth  was  exactly  like  the  stupid  savage, 
who,  incapable  of  resisting  a  sudden  impulse,  runs 
away  with  a  string  of  beads  before  the  very  faces 


GEORGE    VVACIIS.  249 

of  the  ship's  company,  and  hides  behind  a  tree, 
where  he  thinks  himself  and  his  booty  safe  so  long 
as  he  does  not  see  those  by  whom  he  is  seen.  The 
murder  which  George  Wachs  planned  in  case  the 
shoemaker  should  not  leave  the  room,  was  quite  as 
ill-contrived.  None  but  a  man  blinded  by  passion 
could  avoid  seeing  that  detection  was  as  certain 
as  the  muixler  was  easy.  He  was  well  known  to 
the  fainily,  and  indeed  to  the  whole  neighborhood  : 
the  miller's  lad  James  had  met  him  at  the  house, 
and  the  shoemaker's  wife  and  children  had  left 
him  alone  with  his  victim,  and  must  therefore,  im- 
mediately upon  discovering  the  murder,  have  fixed 
upon  him  as  the  murderer.  Nothing  but  the  most 
reckless  and  blind  rapacity,  incapable  of  fore- 
thought and  reflection,  would  have  perceived  the 
mere  physical  possibility  of  the  deed  and  overlook- 
ed its  real  impracticability,  and  the  certainty  of 
immediate  detection. 

A  stranQ^e  contrast  to  the  heat  of  his  desires  is 
presented  by  the  coolness  and  presence  of  mind 
with  which  this  youth  of  nineteen,  who  probably 
f  )und  himself  for  the  first  time  exposed  to  such 
temptation,  conceived,  determined  on,  and  per- 
formed so  frightful  a  deed.  No  sooner  had  it  oc- 
curred to  him  to  take  advantage  of  the  shoe- 
maker's absence  in  order  to  obtain  possession  of 
the  watch,  or  should  he  not  leave  the  room  to 
murder  him,  than  he  was  fully  prepared  with  a 
plan  which  cost  him  not  a  pang  to  conceive  and 
determine.  The  veiy  hired  murderers  sent  by 
Richard  to  kill  Clarence  in  the  Tower  shrink 
back  on  beholding  their  victim,  and  one  of  them 
says,  "  Faith,  some  dregs  of  conscience  are  yet 
within  me."  They  feel  within  them  "  that  danger- 
ous thing  which  makes  a  man  a  coward ;  a  man 
cannot  steal  but  it  accuseth  him 'Tis  a  blush- 
ing shame-faced  spirit  that  mutinies  in  a  man's 


250  REMARKABLE    CKIiMINAL    TRIALS. 

bosom;    it  fills    one    full    of   obstacles."*       But 
George   Wachs,  though  a  mere  novice  in  crime, 
does  not  appear  from  his  own  account  to  have  felt 
any  such  "dregs  of  conscience,"  or  any  such  "mu- 
tiny in  his  bosom."       His  continual  walking  up 
and  down  betrayed,  it  is  true,  some  inward  unea- 
siness ;    but   this   seems  to   have  been  caused  by 
nothing  but  the  mixture  of  hope  and  fear,  the  im- 
patience of  desire,  and  anxiety  as  to  the  success  or 
failure  of  his  plan.     He  felt  no  distress,  no  hesita- 
tion at  the  thought  that  he  could  only  gain  posses- 
sion of  a   miserable  watch  by  destroying  a  poor 
father  of  a  family,  who  had  never  injured  him,  and 
with   whom  he   was  at   that  moment  engaged  in 
friendly  conversation.     It  is  true  that  he  delayed 
for  a  while  committing  the  murder,  in  the  expec- 
tation that  the  shoemaker  would  quit  his  work  for 
a  moment  and  leave  the  room,  and  in  this  delay  a 
certain  amount  of  humane  feeling  may  have  had  as 
large  a  share  as  the  very  natural  dislike  of  adopt- 
ing the  more  troublesome  and  dangerous  mode  of 
proceeding,  so  long  as  ah  easier  road  to  his  wishes 
was  open  to  him.     The  choice  between  theft  and 
murder  by  no  means  depended  on  his  original  re- 
solution —  for  he  was  equally  prepared  for  either 
alternative  —  but  simply  on  the  accidental  turn  of 
circumstances.    On  being  asked  at  the  final  exam- 
ination how  he  could  murder  the  shoemaker  for  a 
watch  of  trifling  value,  when  he  must  have  known 
that  such  a  crime  would  be  punished  \vith  the  ut- 
most i-igor,  he  answered,  "  I  certainly  did  think 
of  it,  but  I  don't  know  what  came  over  me.    1  felt 
all  at  once  the  strongest  desire  for  the  watch,  and 
instantly  determined  to  kill  the  shoemaker.      The 
watch   I   must  have,  and   the   only  question  was 
what  to  do  next :  upon  this  1  struck  him.     The 

*  King  Richard  III.,  Act.  I.  Scene  4. 


GEORGE    WACHS.  251 

longing  after  the  watch  was  too  strong  for  me  ;  I 
struggled  all  along  against  my  desires,  for  I  knew 
very  well  that  it  was  wrong  to  kill  any  one  for  such 
a  cause."  However  ready  we  may  be  to  believe 
that  he  was  aware  that  murder,  especially  such  a 
murder  as  this,  was  a  crime  deserving  heavy  pun- 
ishment, we  much  doubt  whether  this  knowledge 
involved  him  in  any  contest  between  his  consci- 
ence and  his  desires.  Deep  as  is  the  insight  given 
us  by  the  prisoner  into  the  secret  origin  of  crime 
by  repeated  and  connected  statements,  we  find  no 
circumstance  which  might  induce  us  to  believe 
that  his  determination  and  its  execution  cost  hira 
any  particular  effort  or  qualm  of  conscience.  He 
speaks  only  of  the  beginning  of  his  desire,  its 
growth,  and  final  mastery  over  him.  Throughout 
all  these  bloody  thoughts  and  deeds,  the  prisoner 
retained  such  perfect  coolness  and  self-possession, 
that  he  was  able  not  only  to  describe  the  whole 
tragedy,  but  even  the  workings  of  his  own  mind, 
as  accurately  as  could  have  been  done  by  a  dis- 
passionate obsei'ver  able  to  look  into  his  soul. 
Men  whose  natures  have  even  a  moderate  share  of 
the  milk  of  human  kindness,  can  seldom  bear  to 
look  upon  a  horrid  deed  so  closely :  before  they 
can  think  of  it  with  composure,  they  must  blunt  or 
deceive  their  natural  feelings,  unless  indeed  the 
struggle  between  desire  and  loathing  hurries  them 
on  to  that  desperate  fury  in  which  they  are  readv 
to  say  with  Macbeth, 

"  Let  that  be 
Wliich  the  eyes  fears,  when  it  is  done,  to  see."* 

But  George  Wachs  was  not  so  chicken-hearted  as 
to  flinch  before  any  teiTors  of  the  imagination ;  he 
was  so  strong  in  purpose,  that  he  needed  no  assist- 
ance save  that  of  his  o\vn  good  clear  understanding, 

Macbeth,  Act.  I.  Scene  5. 


252  REMARKABLE    CRIMINAL    TRIALS. 

which  served  him  admirably,  so  far  as  pointing  out 
the  shortest  means  to  a  given  end.  AVith  dchberate 
cunning  he  took  up  the  hea\y  iron  hammer  before 
the  eyes  of  the  shoemaker,  tossed  it  to  and  fro  in 
his  hands  as  if  in  play,  stood  a  step  or  two  behind 
his  victim,  and  "  as  he  had  heard  that  the  most 
certain  ^vay  was  to  hit  a  man  on  the  temple,"  he 
aimed  directly  at  that  place,  which  he  struck  with 
such  a  firm  and  unerring  hand,  that  the  murdered 
man  instantly  fell  without  speech  or  motion  at  his 
feet. 

His  cool  rapacity  led  him  at  once  to  his  real  ob- 
ject, unmoved  by  the  bloody  sight  before  him  :  he 
first  seized  upon  the  watch,  and  then  sought  for 
the  chain  in  every  part  of  the  house ;  he  broke 
open  and  ransacked  every  chest  and  cupboard, 
took  Avhatever  could  possibly  be  of  use  to  him  — 
money,  clothes,  silver  buckles,  even  a  piece  of 
leather  for  boots  —  and  concealed  them  in  his 
pockets.  Such  was  his  coolness,  that  he  returned 
once  more  to  the  workshop  before  quitting  the 
house  :  such  his  cruelty,  that  he  comjiletely  shat- 
tered the  head  of  his  victim,  who  still  lay  in  the 
death-struggle :  such  his  deliberate,  but  useless 
prudence,  that  he  dragged  the  dead  man  into  the 
inner  room  out  of  sight. 

The  other  three  murders  (for  the  attempt  upon 
the  girl  was  a  murder  in  intention)  were  necessary 
consequences  of  the  first,  and  were  consideied  by 
the  criminal — as  they  really  were — merely  supple- 
mentary, and  ff)rccd  uyum  him  by  nn  unlucky  acci- 
dent. The  shoemaker  he  sacrificed  to  his  I'apacity, 
the  wife  and  children  to  self-presei-vation.  A  man 
more  accessible  to  human  weakness,  if  he  did  the 
deed  at  all,  would  have  done  it  with  all  the  siefus 
of  one  driven  by  the  pressure  of  cruel  necessity  to 
a  state  bordering  on  madness.  But  Wachs,  whom 
nothing  could  disturb,  nothing  unman,  saw  as  soon 


GEORGE    WACH3.  253 

as  the  children  appeared  before  him  what  he  must 
do,  and  his  determination  was  as  quick  as  thought 
itself.  He  murdered  the  children  without  the 
slightest  remorse,  and  exhibited  in  the  whole 
transaction  a  cruelty  and  hardness  of  heai't  only- 
equalled  by  his  coolness  and  deliberation. 

The  poor  mother  was  the  next  to  fall. 

This  last  action  was  a  mere  repetition  of  the 
second  and  third  ;  only  as  it  was  a  grown  up  and 
vigorous  person  with  whom  he  had  to  deal,  the 
murderer  displayed  in  the  execution  of  his  sudden 
determination  as  much  cunning  as  cruelty.  No 
sooner  did  he  see  her  approach,  than  he  resolved 
how  to  act.  He  instantly  shut  the  door,  armed 
himself  once  more  with  the  bloody  hammer,  con- 
cealed the  hand  which  grasped  it,  and  then  opened 
the  door,  which  he  shut  upon  her  as  she  entered 
the  house  with  a  jest  on  her  lips :  the  moment 
she  turned  her  eyes  from  him,  he  aimed  at  the 
well-known  weak  place  in  her  head,  and  at  one 
blow  shattered  it  with  the  hammer  which  was 
already  stained  with  the  blood  of  her  husband  and 
her  children. 

After  murdering  the  father,  mother,  and  children, 
Wachs  ended  this  horrid  tragedy  by  cai-efully  car- 
rying the  infant  of  the  murdered  woman  into  the 
chamber,  and  laying  it  upon  the  bed.  We  can 
scarcely  consider  this  action  as  the  result  of  any 
humane  impulse,  but  rather  as  a  fresh  jn'oof  of  the 
remarkable  coolness  and  self-possession  manifested 
throughout  by  the  murderer.  No  particular  sensi- 
bility is  required  to  induce  a  man  to  remove  an 
infant  from  a  place  where  it  is  in  danger  of  falling, 
especially  if  this  can  be  done  with  very  little  trouble. 
When  Wachs,  just  before  quitting  the  house,  ren- 
dered this  small  service  to  the  child,  whose  life 
could  not  injure  and  whose  death  could  not  serve 
him,  he  merely  proved  that,  in  the  midst  of  murder 


254  REMARKABLE    CRIMINAL    1  RIALS. 

and  death,  he  preserved  such  perfect  composure 
as  to  be  able  to  give  his  attention  to  a  matter  of 
comparatively  trifling  importance,  and  to  pass  at 
once  from  the  most  horrible  deeds  to  a  perfectly 
indiUerent  and  common-place  action. 

These  several  murders,  which,  strangely  enough, 
left  no  stain  on  the  clothes  or  person  of  the  mur- 
derer, seem  to  have  left  as  little  trace  upon  his 
mind,  except  a  perfectly  indifferent  recollection  of 
the  circumstances.  After  shutting  the  door  of  the 
house  of  death  behind  him,  he  went  home  with  his 
pockets  full  of  plunder,  and  at  about  half-past  six  pre- 
sented himself  before  his  master,  gave  his  master's 
children  some  apples,  and  told  him  with  great  glee 
what  a  happy  day  he  had  spent,  and  how  his  com- 
panion, young  Hingerl,  had  got  so  drunk  that  he 
could  neither  stand  nor  walk.  He  appeared  so 
cheerful  and  so  perfectly  at  his  ease  during  the 
whole  of  that  evening,  which  he  passed  with  his 
master  and  mistress  until  bed-time,  that  the  foraier 
expressed  in  court  his  wonder  how  so  young  a  man 
could  do  such  deeds,  or,  when  he  had  done  them, 
behave  in  such  a  manner.  On  the  following  even- 
ing, when  his  master  and  mistress  were  talking 
over  the  dreadful  occurrence  at  the  shoemaker's, 
Wachs  coolly  remarked,  "  that  on  the  day  before 
the  murders  he  had  been  at  the  house,  and  had 
stayed  there  some  time,  while  his  boots  were 
being  mended  :  he  should  therefore  certainly  have 
to  appear  befoi-e  the  court,  and  perhaps  people 
might  even  think  he  had  done  it."  He  behaved 
with  equal  composure  on  the  Saturday,  when  he 
met  some  woman  with  whom  he  associated,  to 
whom  he  gave  the  watch,  in  order  that  she  might 
get  a  glass  fitted  to  it.  He  told  her  that  his  father 
had  given  him  the  watch,  and  talked  with  gi-eat 
animation  about  several  indifferent  matters.  When 
she  mentioned  what  had  happened  at  the  shoe- 


GEORGE    WACHS.  255 

maker's  house,  and  asked  him  whether  he  had 
heard  who  was  the  murderer,  he  told  her,  with 
tlie  most  perfect  composure,  "  that  both  he  and 
the  miller's  son,  James,  had  been  at  the  house  on 
the  very  day  of  the  murder,  and  would  therefore 
probably  be  summoned  before  the  court."  He 
then  proceeded,  witliout  any  apparent  emban-ass- 
ment,  to  talk  on  other  subjects.  But  nothing  more 
strikingly  exhibits  his  want  of  common  sensibility 
than  the  circumstance  that  it  cost  him  nothincr  to 
look  out  of  the  Avindow  while  the  funeral  of  the 
shoemaker,  his  wife  and  child,  passed  by  the 
public-house  at  Vilsbiburg,  where  he  was.  This 
he  himself  confessed,  and  he  replied  to  the  judge's 
question,  whether  he  had,  as  was  commonly  re- 
ported, followed  the  funeral  procession  into  the 
church,  to  hear  the  servace  — "  No,  for  I  had  on 
my  working  jacket ;  otherwise  I  should  have  gone 
to  see  the  funeral.  I  wished  on  all  accounts  to  go 
into  the  church.  I  certainly  was  sorry  for  the 
people,  but  I  could  have  gone  and  looked  on,  for 
all  that."  He  who  could  do  that  could  do  more 
than  other  men,  and  of  such  a  one,  one  is  tempted 
to  say  that  he  was  little  less  than  a  devil.  During 
the  whole  trial  he  preserved  the  same  indifference 
about  his  crime.  Although  he  acknowledged  it  to 
be  deserving  of  punishment,  he  did  not  once 
show  the  slightest  remorse  or  compassion  for  his 
victims. 

Considered  from  a  merely  technical  point  of 
view,  the  case  presented  no  legal  difficulty.  The 
comprehensive  and  repeated  confessions  made  by 
the  prisoner  agreed  exactly  with  the  circumstantial 
evidence,  and  with  the  statements  of  the  witnesses. 
Most  of  the  articles  stolen  from  the  shoemaker's 
house  were  found  in  the  criminal's  possession  ; 
some  were  delivered  into  court  by  those  persons 
to  whom  he  had  given  or  sold  them ;  only  the  sil- 


25G  REMARKABLE    CRIMINAL    TRIALS. 

ver  watch-chain,  which  had  so  much  contributed 
to  tempt  him  to  crime,  was  missing,  and  tlic  ac- 
cused stedfastly  adhered  to  his  assertion  that  he  had 
not  stolen  it,  for  that,  in  spite  of  his  eager  search, 
he  had  been  unable  to  find  it.  There  was  also  a 
rosary  set  in  silver  missing  from  among  the  things 
left  in  the  house ;  the  prisoner  declared  that  he 
had  not  even  seen  it. 

The  defence  was  necessarily  confined  to  a  few 
unimportant  formal  objections,  and  to  an  attempt 
to  prove  that  the  accused  was  not  in  the  full  pos- 
session of  his  faculties,  owing  to  drunkenness. 
But  this  plea  was  contradicted  by  the  direct  evi- 
dence of  several  witnesses,  as  well  as  by  the  nature 
of  the  crime  and  by  the  prisoner's  own  confession. 
The  advocate  would  have  most  effectually  served 
his  client,  but  not  the  cause  of  justice,  if  he  had 
succeeded  in  convincing  the  court  of  the  truth  of 
his  remark,  "  that  a  man  who  could  do  such  deeds 
in  such  a  manner  from  such  a  motive,  could  not 
possibly  be  in  his  right  senses,  and  that  therefore 
it  was  necessary  first  of  all  to  cause  the  medical 
ofiicers  of  the  court  to  examine  into  the  state  of 
his  mind."  This  plea  was,  of  course,  refused,  as 
the  court  was  in  fidl  possession  of  the  means  of 
iudging  whether  the  criminal  were  responsible  for 
his  actions,  or  not. 

The  accused  was  accordingly,  by  his  own  con- 
fession, pronounced  guilty,  on  the  28th  July,  1819, 
— 1st  of  a  qualified  murder  (murder  accompanied 
by  robbery)  on  the  person  of  the  master  shoemaker 
Huber ;  2d,  of  simple  murder  of  his  son,  aged 
three;  3d,  of  a  simple  murder  of  the  wife;  and 
4th,  an  attempt  at  the  simple  murder  of  the 
daughter,  aged  nine, — and  was  sentenced  to  death 
by  the  sword  ;  which  sontenco  was  carried  into 
execution  on  the  23d  October  following. 

Notwithstanding  the  horrid  nature  of  his  crimes, 


GEORGE    WACHS.  257 

Wachs  cannot  be  classed  among  the  criminals  of 
the  first  rank.  Strong  and  easily  excited  animal 
passions,  great  frivolity,  and  utter  want  of  cultiva- 
tion, were  the  chief  elements  of  his  character :  iu 
these  the  horrible  deeds  of  the  8th  April  had  their 
origin. 
17 


GEORGE  RAUSCIIMAIER. 

OR, 

THE  TELLTALE  RING, 


In  the  year  1821  a  chanvomaii  of  the  name  of 
Maria  Anna  Holzmann,  aged  fifty-five,  lodged  in  a 
house  belonging  to  the  shoemaker  Sticht  of  Augs- 
burg :  she  underlet  a  part  of  her  lodging  to  George 
Rauschmaier  and  Joseph  Steiner. 

Holzmann  disappeared  on  Good  Friday  (20th 
of  April).  Rauschmaier  and  Steiner  left  their 
lodging  some  days  later,  without  having  given 
notice  to  the  landlord  Sticht,  who  lived  in  another 
street,  of  Holzmann's  disappearance.  They  after- 
wards gave  out  that  she  had  quitted  the  house 
early  on  Friday  morning,  leaving  behind  her  all 
her  keys,  and  had  never  returned. 

It  was  not  till  the  17th  of  May  that  Sticht  in- 
formed the  police  of  Holzmann's  disappearance. 
Although  Holzmann  lived  chiefly  on  charity,  she 
possessed  a  store  of  good  clothes  and  other  prop- 
erty, and  was  supposed  to  have  saved  money.  But 
when  the  magistrate  went  with  her  brother  and 
sister-in-law  to  take  an  inventory  of  the  propeity, 
and  to  seal  it  up,  it  was  discovered  that  all  the 
best  part  of  her  property  was  missing.  The  per- 
sons present  on  this  occasion  were  overpowered 
by  an  insufferable  stench,  which  they  attributed  to 
the  accumulation  of  dirt  in  the  rooms  lately  occu- 
pied by  Rauschmaier  and  Steiner. 

The  search  made  by  the  police,  and  the  inquiries 


GEORGE    RAUSCHMAIER.  259 

of  the  city  magistrates  after  the  missing  woman, 
were  fruitless.  Holzmann's  bi'other  suggested  that 
she  might  possibly  have  gone  away  and  destroyed 
herself,  as  it  was  said  that  she  had  lately  lost  some 
money  which  she  had  lent  at  high  interest.  Ilausch- 
maier,  who  was  examined  on  oath  before  the  ma- 
gistrate on  the  25th  of  June,  stated  that  Holz- 
mann  left  her  home  at  eight  o'clock  on  Friday 
morning  in  company  with  another  woman ;  that 
she  had  never  returned,  and  that  he  did  not  know 
whither  she  was  gone,  or  what  had  become  of  her. 
The  inquiry  was  then  suffered  to  rest  until  some 
discovery  should  be  made. 

The  affair  remained  in  this  state  till  the  2d  of 
January,  1822,  when  a  washerwoman  of  the  name 
of  Therese  Beltler,  who  also  inhabited  Sticht's 
house,  infoi'med  the  police  that  while  she  and  her 
son  were  hanging  some  linen  to  dry  in  the  loft, 
they  had  discovered  the  thigh  and  trunk  of  a  hu- 
man body — probably  those  of  the  missing  woman. 
The  usual  legal  commission  immediately  proceed- 
ed to  the  house,  and  found,  among  some  rubbish 
in  a  corner  of  the  loft,  a  human  leg  and  thigh ; 
about  six  yards  off",  wedged  in  between  the  chimney 
and  the  roof,  tliey  discovered  a  human  trunk  with- 
out head  or  limbs.  In  another  corner  they  found 
an  old  gown  and  petticoat,  together  with  a  red 
neckerchief,  all  much  stained  with  blood.  These 
were  recognised  by  another  washerwoman  in  the 
house  as  part  of  the  dress  usually  worn  by  Holz- 
mann.  On  taking  up  the  floor  of  Rauschmaier's 
room  they  found  the  other  parts  of  the  body. 
Among  these  was  the  left  arm  bent  double,  and 
wrapped  in  an  old  shift. 

The  head  alone  could  nowhere  be  found ;  but 
this  was  soon  accounted  for.  It  appeared  that  at 
Whitsuntide,  1S21,  the  inspector  of  a  factory  not 
far  from  Sticht's  house  had  found  a  human  skuU 


2G0  REMARKAULE    CRIMINAL    TRIALS. 

ill  the  weir  belonging  to  the  factory.  After  sliow- 
ing  it  to  his  brother,  he  threw  it  back  into  the 
river,  the  stream  of  which  carried  it  away.  The 
skull,  which  was  described  as  small,  and  as  having 
only  two  or  three  teeth  in  the  jaw,  was,  in  all  prob- 
ability, Anna  Holzmann's. 

The  liml)s  and  body  appeared  as  it  were 
smoke-dried,  and  were  much  distorted  by  pressure 
in  a  confined  space ;  but  after  being  washed  with 
water  and  spirits  of  wine,  and  thus  restored  in 
some  measure  to  their  natural  form,  the  remains 
were  put  together,  as  well  as  possible,  for  inspec- 
tion by  the  proper  officers.  The  arms  and  thighs 
had  been  removed  from  the  sockets  with  so  much 
care  and  skill,  that  it  betrayed  a  practised  hand. 
While  the  physician  employed  by  the  court  exam- 
ined the  left  arm,  and  endeavored  to  straighten  it, 
a  brass  ring  fell  out  of  the  bend  of  the  elbow. 
It  had  in  all  probability  slipped  from  the  murder- 
er's finger  while  he  was  in  the  act  of  cutting  up 
the  body,  in  the  keeping  of  which  it  remained  as  a 
silent  witness  acrainst  him. 

Holzmann  was  described  by  her  friends  and 
relations  as  a  small,  well-shaped  person,  with  this 
distinctive  mark,  that  her  right  foot  was  consider- 
ably thicker  than  the  left,  and  that  one  of  the  toes 
had  been  removed  many  years  before.  This  descrip- 
tion exactly  corresponded  with  the  body  when  put 
together,  and  her  brother  and  other  relations  did 
not  doubt  its  identity  with  Holzmann. 

The  discovery  of  the  corpse  in  Holzmann's  own 
house  threw  a  strong  suspicion  on  Kauschmaier 
and  Steiner.  It  was  scarcely  possible  that  any 
one  could  have  had  time  or  opportunity  to  commit 
such  a  murder,  save  one  «>r  both  of  Holzmann's 
fellow-lodgers.  Their  staying  so  long  in  the  house 
in  which  the  scattered  remains  of  the  murdered 
woman  were  hidden,  without  communicating  what 


GEORGE    RAUSCHMAIER.  26! 

they  must  at  least  have  known,  was  an  additional 
proof  of  the  justice  of  the  suspicion  against  them, 
especially  against  Rauschmaier,  who  had  declared 
on  his  oath  that  Anna  Holzmann  left  her  home  on 
Good  Friday,  1820,  leaving  the  keys  with  him, 
whereas  it  was  quite  clear  that  she  had  been  mur- 
dered on  that  very  day,  in  her  own  house.  Be- 
fore long  it  was  discovered  that  during  Easter 
week  Rauschmaier  and  his  mistress  had  pawned 
or  sold  much  of  Holzmann's  property. 

Rauschmaier  was  an^ested  on  the  2d  of  Janu- 
ary, as  soon  as  the  dissevered  body  was  discovered. 
Among  other  things  found  upon  him  was  a  tattered 
pocket-book,  containing  a  remarkable  document 
printed  in  the  form  of  a  patent  at  Cologne,  and 
adorned  with  the  effigies  of  a  number  of  saints  :  it 
purported  to  be  a  letter  written  from  heaven  by 
Jesus  Christ  himself,  and  brought  down  to  earth 
by  the  archangel  Michael,  granting  full  absolution 
for  all  sins  and  crimes,  however  hoiTible — in  short 
a  patent  well  worthy  to  be  worn  by  robbers,  thieves, 
and  murderers.* 

*  This  impious  and  superstitious  document  bears  the  super- 
scription :  —  "  Copia.  or  copy  from  a  divine  epistle  writ  in  God's 
own  hand,  and  now  hanging  before  the  image  of  St.  Michael,  on 
St.  Michael's  Mount  in  Brittany,  and  no  one  knoweth  whereon 
it  hangeth  ;  the  which  is  writ  in  letters  of  gold,  and  was  brought 
thither  by  the  holy  angel  Michael.  Whosoever  willeth  to  touch 
this  document,  from  hun  it  turneth  — whosoever  willeth  to  copy 
it,  unto  him  doth  it  bend  down  and  unfold  itself."  Christ  then 
writes  in  his  own  person,  and  first  of  all  impresses  upon  the 
faithful  the  absolute  necessity  of  keeping  holy  the  sabbath,  hear- 
ing the  proper  number  of  masses,  never  working  on  saint-days, 
and  the  like.  He  then  continues,  "I  say  to  you,  by  the  mouth 
of  my  mother,  by  the  Christian  Church,  and  by  the  head  of  John 
my  Baptist,  that  I,  the  true  Christ,  have  writ  this  epistle  with 
mine  own  divine  hand.  This  epistle  shall  be  copied  the  one  from 
the  other,  and  should  a  man  have  committed  as  many  sins  as  there 
be  sands  on  the  sea-shore,  blades  of  grass  on  the  earth,  or  stars 
in  the  heavens,  if  he  confesseth  and  repenteth  him  of  his  sins, 
they  shall  be  forgiven  him.  Whosoever  hath  such  a  letter  by  him 
or  in  his  house,  his  prayers  will  I  hear,  and  him  shall  no  thunder 
or  lightning  harm.    Whatsoever  woman  big  with  child  shall 


262  REMARKABLE    CRIMINAL   TRIALS. 

On  his  summary  examination  Rauschmaier  re- 
peated his  former  assertion  that  Anna  Holzmann 
had  left  the  house  early  on  Good  Friday,  and  had 
never  returned.  His  manner  during  examination, 
and  when  the  coi-pse  was  shown  to  him  in  the 
churchyard,  was  cool  and  uncmbaiTassed.  He 
showed  no  emotion,  and  jirofessed  ignorance  of 
the  body  exposed  to  view.  On  the  22d  of  Janu- 
ary he  requested  an  audience,  in  which,  however, 
he  said  nothing,  but  that  he  wished  to  be  soon  re- 
leased. On  the  following  day  he  demanded  an- 
other interview,  and  this  time  he  confessed  that 
soon  after  Holzmann's  departure  he  had  taken 
several  of  her  things,  which  he  had  given  to  his 
mistress  to  carry  away.  The  judge  thought  it  ex- 
pedient to  examine  Rauschmaier  merely  as  to  the 
robbery,  without  the  slightest  reference  to  the 
murder.  Several  articles  of  dress  belonging  to 
Holzmann,  which  were  already  in  the  possession 
of  the  court,  were  shown  to  the  prisoner,  and  re- 
cognised by  him  as  part  of  what  he  had  stolen.  A 
pair  of  ear-rings  and  two  gold  rings  were  then 
placed  before  him,  together  with  the  brass  ring 
which  had  been  found  in  the  elbow  of  the  mur- 
dered woman.  On  seeing  these  he  exclaimed, 
"  The  ear-rings  and  the  gold  and  brass  rings  are 
mine !  The  brass  ring  I  always  wore  until  within 
four  or  five  weeks  after  Easter,  since  when  I  have 
worn  the  gold  ones.  The  brass  ring  fits  the  little 
finger  of  my  left  hand." — It  slipped  on  and  off  with 
ease ;  had  a  doubt  remained,  the  telltale  ring  must 
have  dispelled  it. 

On  the  11th  of  March,  1S22,  Rauschmaier,  his 
mistress  Elisabeth  Ditscher,  and  Steiner,  were 
brought  before  the  court  for  special  examination. 

carry  this  letter  upon  her,  shall  be  in  dne  time  delivered  of  a  fair 
offspring.  Keep  my  commandments,  as  I  have  ordained  through 
my  holy  angel  Michael.—/,  the  true  Jesus  Christ. 


GEORGE    RAUSCHMAIER.  263 

At  his  first  examination  Rauschmaier  repeated 
his  former  confession,  that  he  had  robbed  his  land- 
lady. He  adhered  to  the  same  story  at  his  second 
examination,  but  answered  the  searching  questions 
of  the  judge  in  monosyllables,  and  betrayed  em- 
barrassment by  his  confused  and  hesitating  man- 
ner, and  his  changing  color.  On  his  third  exam- 
ination, which  took  place  two  days  after,  he  fell 
upon  his  knees,  and  exclaimed,  weeping  bitterly, 
"  Mr.  Commissioner,  I  see  that  you  are  well  dis- 
posed towards  me.  You  spoke  so  kindly  the  other 
day,  that  I  will  confess  my  guilt  to  you  sincerely  :" 
and  he  kept  his  word. 

George  Rauschmaier,  a  turner  by  trade,  was 
born  at  Augsburg,  of  Catholic  parents.  His  father 
Avas  a  baker,  and  his  mother  a  midwife.  At  the 
time  of  the  murder  he  was  about  four  and  thirty. 
His  mother  and  sister  said  in  evidence  against  him, 
that  his  mind  had  been  perverted  from  his  youth  : 
he  had  always  been  remarkable  for  coarse,  ill- 
regulated  passions,  violence  of  temper,  love  of 
dissipation,  idleness,  and  expensive  habits.  He 
could  neither  read  nor  write,  and  was  so  ignorant 
of  the  first  principles  of  the  Christian  religion  as 
to  require  instruction  from  a  priest  before  he 
could  receive  the  Sacrament,  towards  the  end  of 
his  trial. 

In  his  seventh  year  he  was  apprenticed  to  a 
bricklayer,  and  during  the  winter  he  found  em- 
ployment in  a  manufactory.  In  his  thirteenth  year 
he  learnt  turnery  at  Munich  for  three  years,  at  the 
end  of  which  he  returned,  on  his  father's  death,  to 
Augsburg,  and  in  1805  he  entered  the  Austrian 
service.  When  the  war  was  ended  his  regiment 
was  disbanded,  and  he  returned  to  Augsburg.  He 
was  occasionally  employed,  till  1807,  both  there 
and  at  Munich  as  a  turner ;  but  his  employers  said 
that  he  was  an  idle,  insolent,  ^nd  dissolute  fellow. 


264  REMARKABLE    CRIMINAL    TRIALS. 

whom  no  one  could  keep  long  in  their  service.  In 
1807  he  was  drawn  for  the  Bavarian  army,  but 
soon  deserted  to  the  Austrians ;  and  in  1809  he 
fought  against  his  own  countrymen.  In  1809  he 
again  deserted,  and  re-entered  the  Bavarian  ser- 
vice. In  1811  he  underwent  a  military  trial  and 
punishment  for  theft.  He  passed  through  the 
horrors    of  the  Russian    campaign    in    1812    and 

1813,  which,  together  with  the  observations  that 
he  had  the  opportunity  of  making  in  the  military 
hospitals,  completely  obliterated  the  slight  remain- 
ing traces  of  humanity  left  in  his  nature.  When 
his  regiment  was  at  Warsaw,  on  its  way  back  in 

1814,  he  stole  money  and  property  to  the  amount 
of  110  florins  from  the  adjutant,  for  which  he  was 
sentenced  to  fifteen  months'  imprisonment  on  his 
return  to  his  native  country.  When  released  from 
prison,  he  returned  to  Augsburg,  where  he  re- 
mained a  year  and  a  half,  until  his  arrest,  earning 
his  bread  however  he  could.  He  said  to  the 
judge,  "  You  see  from  this  account  of  my  life, 
how  neglected  I  was,  and  how  low  I  have  sunk  in 
consequence." 

He  continued  : — "  I  was  always  in  want  of  mo- 
ney, and  knew  not  whence  to  get  it.  I  wanted  to  buy 
clothes,  but  would  not  stint  myself  of  meat  and 
drink.  The  thought  struck  me  that  I  would  kill 
Anna  Holzmann,  who,  to  my  knowledge,  possessed 
many  good  clothes,  and  who  was  supposed  to  have 
saved  some  money.  I  determined  to  strangle  her, 
as  that  was  easiest,  left  no  trace  of  blood,  and  could 
be  done  without  noise :  I  had  also  heard  the  army 
surgeons  in  Russia  say  that  the  bodies  of  persons 
strangled  or  suffocated  bledbut  little  when  dissected. 
I  made  up  my  mind  to  the  murder  some  six  or 
eight  days  before  Good  Friday,  and  since  that  time 
I  had  no  peace  from  doubting  whether  I  should  do 
it  or  let  it  alone.      At  length  on  the  morning  of 


GEORGE    RAUSCIIMAIER.  265 

Good  Friday,  the  people  of  the  house  went  to 
church,  even  Steiner  was  out,  and  by  eight  o'clock 
I  was  left  alone  in  the  house  with  Anna  Holzmann. 
The  opportunity  overcame  me,  and,  without  saying 
a  word  I  walked  straight  into  her  room,  rushed 
upon  her  as  she  was  going  towards  the  bed,  upon 
which  I  threw  her  and  squeezed  her  throat  with 
both  hands  while  I  lay  upon  her  with  the  whole 
weight  of  my  body.  She  could  make  no  resistance, 
and  in  five  minutes  she  was  dead  without  having 
uttered  a  sound,  nor  could  she  have  suffered  much, 
as  she  was  old  and  weak.  When  I  saw  that  she 
was  dead  I  let  her  body  sink  upon  the  floor. 

"  I  then  searched  her  chest  for  clothes  and  mo- 
ney, but  was  much  disappointed  ;  instead  of  what 
I  expected,  I  found  only  eight  kreutzers. 

"  After  the  body  had  lain  upon  the  floor  for  about 
an  hour  and  a  quarter  and  was  quite  cold,  I  drag- 
ged it  into  the  loft,  which  was  level  with  her  room. 

"  To  get  rid  of  the  corpse  I  determined  to  cut  it 
up  with  a  large  clasp-knife,  which  I  afterwards 
threw  into  the  Lech.  I  had  frequently  seen  bodies 
dissected  in  the  hospitals  in  Russia."  He  then 
gave  a  minute  description  of  the  whole  operation, 
which  he  seems  to  have  performed  in  little  more 
than  an  hour.  He  described  how  he  hid  the  seve- 
ral parts  of  Holzmann's  corpse  in  the  places  where 
they  were  subsequently  found,  and  threw  the  head, 
wrapped  in  an  old  apron,  into  the  Lech,  after  tak- 
ing off"  the  gold  ear-rings.  Hereupon  he  imme- 
diately went,  at  between  ten  and  eleven,  to  the 
church  of  St.  Maurice,  but  could  not  pray  from  re- 
morse, fear,  and  soitow.  In  the  evening  he  went 
to  the  Calvary.  "  I  knew  very  well,"  said  he,  "  that 
the  murder  I  had  committed  was  a  great  sin ;  but 
want  of  money  and  the  desire  to  possess  some 
blinded  me  to  the  heavy  consequences  of  my  crime. 
The  murder  of  Holzmann  seemed  to  me  the  easiest 

Z 


266  REMARKABLE   CRIMI.VAL    TRIALS. 

and  most  convenient  means  of  obtaining  money.  I 
shook  from  head  to  foot  while  I  was  cutting  her 
up  and  hiding  her  remains,  and  since  that  time  I 
have  had  no  real  happiness,  as  every  one  must  have 
seen."  When  asked  about  the  brass  ring,  he  said 
he  must  have  lost  it  while  cutting  up  the  body. 
The  judge  told  him  whore  it  had  been  found, 
whereupon  he  exclaimed,  "  Yes,  yes  !  nothing 
more  likely.  It  must  have  slipped  off"  my  little 
finger  while  I  was  bending  Holzmann's  arm,  and 
been  left  sticking  in  the  bend  of  her  elbow." 

After  this  confession,  Rauschmaier  seemed  much 
more  easy,  showed  great  repentance,  and  frequently 
shed  tears  at  his  examinations. 

While  Rauschmaier's  example  affords  a  proof 
that  there  exist  human  beings  in  the  heart  of  Eu- 
rope as  deficient  in  moral  and  intellectual  culture 
as  the  savages  of  New  Zealand,  the  conduct  of  the 
second  prisoner,  Steiner,  shows  how  litttle  import- 
ance can  be  attached  to  the  statements  of  a  prison- 
er, more  especially  when  made  against  another. 

Steiner  was  thirty-four  years  old  and  born  at 
Augsburg  of  Catholic  parents.  He  was  a  wood- 
cutter by  trade  :  his  education  had  been  as  much 
neglected  as  Rauschmaier's,  and  in  intellect  he  was 
even  below  him.  When  examined  in  1820  as  to 
Holzmann's  disappearance,  the  authorities  were 
forced  to  dispense  with  his  taking  an  oath,  as  he 
could  not  be  made  to  comprehend  its  nature  and 
significance.  After  his  examination  the  judge  re- 
marked, that  "  the  witness  appeared  utterly  defi- 
cient in  culture,  and  incapable  of  forming  an  idea  : 
he  was  almost  an  idiot,  and  an  answer  could  not 
be  obtained  from  him  without  extreme  difficulty." 

On  his  first  regular  examination  of  the  2d  of 
January,  1821,  he  asserted  not  only  his  innocence, 
but  also  his  ignorance  of  the  cause  of  Holzmann's 
disappearance.     The  judge  again   obser\'ed,   that 


GEORGE    RAUSCIIMAIER.  267 

**  his  behavior  proved  the  deficiency  of  his  intel- 
lect, and  that  everything  liad  to  be  very  clearly  ex- 
plained to  him  before  an  ansvv^er  could  be  obtained 
from  him."  He  was  examined  on  the  15th  of  Jan- 
uary, merely  with  regard  to  his  family  and  to  his 
means  of  subsistence,  when  he  began  suddenly,  and 
of  his  own  accord,  a  long  rambling  narrative  to  the 
following  effect : — That  he  returned  home  at  about 
ten  or  eleven  at  night  on  Good  Friday,  and  went 
to  wish  his  landlady  good  night,  as  was  his  usual 
custom  ;  but  not  finding  her  in  bed,  he  thought  that 
she  would  not  return  that  night,  and  thereupon  got 
into  her  bed  himself  During  the  night  he  heard 
a  heavy  fall  overhead,  and  a  noise  as  if  something 
was  being  dragged  backwards  and  forwards.  On 
the  Saturday  he  came  home  at  about  ten  at  night : 
his  comrade  opened  the  door  to  him,  and  would 
not  allow  him  to  enter  his  landlady's  room,  but 
lighted  him  at  once  to  his  own.  He  had  scarcely 
lain  down  when  something  dropped  from  the  ceil- 
ing upon  his  nose,  and  when  he  tuiTied  in  bed,  upon 
his  back.  In  the  morning  he  found  that  this  was 
blood.  He  called  Rauschmaier's  attention  to  this, 
who  answered  that  he  could  not  account  for  it,  but 
that  it  was  of  no  consequence.  At  first  he  thought 
nothing  of  it ;  but,  on  seeing  Holzmann's  remains 
in  the  churchyard,  the  thought  struck  him  that  she 
must  have  been  murdered  by  Rauschmaier.  He 
himself  had  never  harmed  her.  The  judge  re- 
marked that  Steiner  took  great  pains  to  make  his 
Gtory  intelligible,  gave  his  evidence  without  embar- 
rassment or  hesitation,  and  showed  that  he  had 
more  sense  than  had  at  first  appeared.  On  the 
4th  of  February  he  requested  another  audience, 
and  on  being  asked  what  he  had  to  say,  he  replied, 
"  Something  has  occurred  to  me  :  my  memory  is 
bad,  and  I  have  erred  in  several  matters.  Even  a 
horse,  which  has  four  legs,  sometimes  stumbles ; 


268  REMARKABLE    CRIMINAL    TRIALS. 

why  should  not  I  ]"  He  now  modified  his  former 
statement :  it  was  not  on  Friday,  V)ut  on  Saturday, 
that  he  had  slept  in  Holzmann's  bed,  and  that  the 
blood  had  drojjped  upon  liis  nose  on  the  Thursday 
night,  not  on  Good  Friday.  He  had  said  to 
Rauschmaier,  early  on  Friday,  "  Surely,  in  God's 
name,  you  have  not  murdered  our  landlady  1" 
whereupon  Rauschmaier  threatened  to  kill  him  if 
he  said  a  word  about  the  blood  of  their  landlady. 
He  then  showed  him  a  thick  knotted  club,  saying, 
"  I  will  strike  you  dead  with  this  if  you  say  a  word 
of  the  matter !"  Steiner  continued  : — "  As  he  thus 
threatened  me,  and  I  was  in  fear  of  my  life,  I  never 
said  a  word  to  any  one ;  but,  sir,  you  may  be  sure 
that  my  comrade,  who  is  a  bold  strong  fellow,  mur- 
dered the  woman."  He  then  proceeded,  after 
some  interruption,  "  It  now  strikes  me  that  the 
blood  must  have  been  wiped  up  on  Easter  Sunday 
with  my  shirt,  which  I  found  in  a  comer  soaked 
with  blood.  No  doubt  my  comrade  did  this  on  pur- 
pose to  throw  the  suspicion  on  me.  It  likewise  occurs 
to  me,  that  about  a  week  or  a  fortnight  before 
Good  Friday,  my  comrade  wrestled  with  Holzmann, 
in  joke,  of  course  in  order  to  try  her  strength.  He 
must  therefore  even  then  have  made  up  his  mind 
to  murder  her.  Nobody  acts  a  play  until  the  re- 
hearsal has  turned  out  well."  He  further  added, 
that  a  week  after  Easter,  he  was  with  Rauschmaier 
at  a  tavern,  and  when  they  were  alone  his  comrade 
offered  him  a  silver  ring  and  a  pair  of  ear-rings,  to 
say  nothing  about  the  blood  of  their  landlady  ;  but 
he  would  take  nothing  from  him. 

Steiner's  statement  had  every  appearance  of 
truth,  and  agreed  in  the  main  with  what  was  al- 
ready known  ;  and  so  long  as  Rauschmaier  with- 
held his  confession  it  appeared  of  the  utmost  im- 
poT'tance. 

But  when  the  latter  was  asked,  after  ir   king  a 


GEORGE    RAUSCIIMAIER.  269 

full  confession,  whether  any  one  was  privy  to  the 
murder  which  he  had  committed, he  answered,  "  No 
human  being ;  I  resolved  upon  and  committed  the 
murder  alone,  exactly  as  I  have  already  confessed 
it,  because  I  trusted  no  one  ;  if,  perchance,  Joseph 
Steiner  or  Elizabeth  Ditscher  are  suspected,  I 
hereby  attest  their  innocence  ;  nor  do  1  believe  that 
Steiner  saw  anything,  at  any  rate  he  never  gave 
me  to  understand  that  he  suspected  me."  In  the 
following  examination,  when  he  was  told  that  Stei- 
ner asserted  that  he  had  discovered  traces  of  the 
murder,  and  that  he  had  taken  Rauschmaier  to  task 
about  it,  the  latter  replied,  "  It  is  a  thorough  lie  ; 
he  never  said  a  word  to  me  of  the  matter.  The 
fellow  does  nothing  but  tell  lies  from  morning  till 
night.  Had  he  discovered  anything  he  would  have 
informed  against  me.  Why  should  not  I  confess 
this  fact,  if  it  were  truel" 

At  Steiner's  third  examination  the  discrepancy 
between  his  statement  and  Rauschmaier's  repent- 
ant confession  was  fully  explained.  The  judge 
called  Steiner's  attention  to  some  marked  contra- 
diction, whereupon  he  exclaimed,  "  I  am  an  ass, 
and  have  said  a  great  deal  that  is  not  true.  I  must 
beg  pardon  for  having  lied  so  much.  I  thought  to 
myself  that,  perhaps,  my  comrade  murdered  the 
woman,  and  that  I  was  suspected,  although  I  am 
innocent ;  I  therefore  said  whatever  came  into  my 
head  to  strengthen  the  suspicion  against  Rausch- 
maier, and  to  convince  you  of  my  own  innocence. 
All  that  I  have  said  about  the  blood  dropping  upon 
my  nose,  and  my  shirt,  about  the  noise  of  one  fall- 
ins:  and  bein"-  drafTaed  over  head,  and  about  my 
observations  to  Rauschmaier,  his  threatening  words, 
promises,  and  so  forth,  are  mere  inventions.  I 
neither  saw  nor  heard  anything  ;  but  I  suspected 
that  Holzmann  had  been  murdered  by  Rauschmai- 
er.    I  then  considered  how  it  must  all  have  been 


270  REMARKABLE    CRIMINAL    TEIALK. 

done,  and  told  it  accoi'dingly :  I  wonder  how  it  all 
came  into  my  head ;  I  should  soon  have  believed 
the  story  myself.  Forgive  my  stupidity,  I  am  a 
mere  ass.  Only  think  how  stupid  !  I  now  begin 
to  see  what  trouble  I  have  got  myself  into  by  my 
lies  ;  but  I  hope  I  shall  not  suffer  for  them,  as  I  did 
not  harm  the  old  woman.  I  thought  I  was  doing 
the  court  a  pleasure  by  saying  what  I  fancied 
about  Rauschmaier,  for  I  still  believe  him  to  be 
guilty." 

Rauschmaier's  advocate  was  led  by  his  sense  of 
justice  and  propriety  to  confine  the  defence  of  his 
client  to  an  appeal  to  the  mercy  of  the  court.  He 
did  not  attempt  by  legal  quibbles  to  gain  an  acquit- 
tal for  a  man  who  had  already  confessed  his  guilt, 
but  called  the  attention  of  the  judge  to  his  client's 
neglected  education. 

On  the  9th  May,  1822,  Rauschmaier  was  found 
guilty  of  murder,  and  condemned  to  death  by  the 
Bword,  with  previous  exposure  for  half  an  hour  in 
the  pillory. 

Steiner  was  acquitted,  and  Ehzabeth  Ditscher 
was  condemned  to  an  eight  days'  imprisonment  for 
receiving  stolen  goods. 

Rauschmaier's  sentence  received  the  con^rma- 
tion  of  the  superior  court  on  the  18th  of  June  ;  but 
a  royal  rescript  of  the  28th  of  June  directed  that 
the  exposure  previous  to  execution  should  be  omit- 
ted. 


ANDREW   BICHEL, 

THE  WOMAN-MURDERER. 


In  the  summer  of  1807,  Barbara  Reisinger,  the 
daughter  of  Peter  Reisinger,  a  day-laborer  at  Loi- 
senrieth,  left  her  father's  house  in  quest  of  service, 
and  disappeared.  No  tidings  of  her  ever  reached 
her  parents. 

In  the  beginning  of  the  year  1808  the  samethhig 
happened  to  another  young  woman,  named  Cath- 
erine Seidel,  of  Regendorf  She  went  out  one 
morning,  intending  to  have  her  fortune  told  by  a 
certain  Andrew  Bichel,  and  never  returned  home 
to  her  sisters,  who  inquired  after  her  in  vain  at 
Bichel's  house. 

The  disappearance  of  these  two  girls  remained 
for  a  long  time  unknown  to  the  local  authorities. 
The  parents  of  Barbara  Reisinger  comforted  them- 
selves with  vain  hopes ;  the  sisters  of  Catherine  Sei- 
del wept  her  loss  in  silence.  A  report  reached 
them  that  Bichel's  wife  had  sold  some  clothes  be- 
longing to  Catherine  ;  but  they  disregarded  these 
rumors,  and  contented  themselves  with  inquiring 
of  Bichel  himself  after  their  missing  sister ;  with 
unsuspecting  simplicity  they  gave  full  belief  to 
his  mere  denial  of  any  knowledge  of  her.  At 
length  an  accident  led  to  the  first  judicial  inquiry. 
Walburga,  the  younger  sister  of  Catherine  Seidel, 
went  by  chance  into  a  tailor's  shop  at  Regendorf, 
and  found  him  making  a  waistcoat  for  Bichel  of 
gome  dimity  which  she  recognised  as    a  part  of 


272  REMARKABLE    CRIMINAL   TRIALS. 

her  sister's  petticoat.  This  was  too  suspicious  a 
discovery  to  be  passed  over,  and  on  tlie  19th  of 
May,  1808,  Walburga  Seidel  laid  information  to 
the  following  effect  before  the  provincial  magis- 
trate. 

She  stated  that  while  she  herself  was  from  home 
about  thirteen  weeks  before,  some  woman  had 
come  to  their  house  at  eight  o'clock  in  the  morning 
with  a  messacre  from  Andrew  Bichel  to  Catherine, 
to  the  efiect  that  some  one  at  his  house  wished  to 
speak  with  her.  Catherine  accordingly  went  to  him, 
but  immediately  returned,  and  told  her  elder  sister 
Theresa,  that  Bichel  was  going  to  show  her  her 
fortune  in  a  glass,  and  that  she  was  to  take  clothes 
enough  to  change  three  several  times ;  moreover, 
that  the  clothes  must  be  good  and  fine — the  very 
best  she  had.  Catherine  then  packed  up  her 
clothes,  and  went  back  with  them  to  Bichel,  since 
which  she  had  never  been  seen  or  heard  of.  Two 
or  three  days  after,  Theresa,  the  elder  sister,  called 
at  Bichel's  house,  which  she  found  locked,  and  on 
asking  after  her  sister,  Bichel  told  her  (contrary  to 
that  which  he  said  to  others)  that  he  knew  nothing 
about  Catherine,  save  that  she  had  gone  away  with 
a  strange  man,  at  whose  request  he  had  sent  for 
her.  Bichel  repeated  the  same  tale  to  her  sister 
and  herself  about  a  week  since,  after  they  had 
repeatedly  questioned  him  about  their  sister. 
Upon  her  sister's  disappearance,  it  was  rumored 
throughout  the  village,  that  a  long  time  ago  a  cousin 
of  Bichel's  had  gone  to  his  house  to  see  her  fortune 
in  the  glass,  that  she  had  disappeared,  and  that 
Bichel  had  sold  her  clothes,  saying  that  she  no 
longer  wanted  them,  as  she  was  now  called  "  my 
Lady,"  and  wore  French  clothes. 

On  the  following  day,  which  was  the  20th  of 
May,  the  authorities  proceeded  to  Regendorf  in 
order  to  institute  the  necessary  search  in  Bichel's 


ANDREW    BICHEL.  273 

house,  to  an-est  Bichel,  and  to  receive  evidence  on 
the  spot.  When  the  authoiities  reached  Bichel 'a 
house  he  was  absent,  but  two  police  sergeants  were 
Bent  in  pursuit  of  him  into  the  forest  where  he  was 
gone.  His  wife  was  closely  watched  in  the  mean 
time,  while  the  authorities  examined  Theresa  Seidel 
at  the  court-house.  She  confirmed  her  sister's  state- 
ment with  great  precision  and  minuteness,  and  gave 
an  accurate  description  of  all  the  clothes  which 
Catherine  had  taken  with  her  to  Bichel's  house. 
She  likewise  named  the  15th  of  February,  1808,  as 
the  day  on  which  her  sister  had  disappeared. 

Theresa  Seidel's  examination  was  not  concluded 
when  the  police  brought  into  court  a  cotton  hand- 
kerchief which  they  had  found  on  Bichel's  person 
on  his  an-est.  He  had  anxiously  endeavored  first 
to  conceal  and  then  to  throw  it  away.  As  soon 
as  Theresa  Seidel  saw  this  handkerchief,  she  ex- 
claimed, "Jesus  Maria!  that  belonged  to  my  sis- 
ter Catherine!"  On  examining  it  more  closely, 
she  identified  it  with  certainty. 

Bichel  was  immediately  examined  :  he  affected 
to  be  totally  ignorant  of  the  cause  of  his  arrest. 
He  asserted  that  he  had  bought  the  handkerchief 
in  the  ragmarket  at  Ratisbon,  and  the  dimity  which 
he  had  given  to  the  tailor  from  a  strange  pedlar. 
He  denied  any  acquaintance  with  the  sisters  of 
Seidel :  and  of  Catherine  he  said  he  knew  nothing 
save  that  a  young  man,  a  stranger  to  him,  had  sent 
for  her  to  his  house :  that  they  had  probably  gone 
off"  together,  and  that  he  had  since  heard  that  she 
had  been  seen  at  Landshut  dressed  in  French 
clothes.  But  his  whole  manner — his  evasive,  im- 
probable, and  often  hasty  answers — his  hesitation 
and  perplexity — his  changing  complexion,  clearly 
betrayed  his  guilt.  When  asked  whether  he  did 
not  possess  a  magic  mirror,  he  turned  scarlet,  but 
denied  all  knowledge  of  it,  and  stated  that  about  a 
18 


274  REMARKABLE    CRIMINAL    TRIALS. 

year  ago  a  man  with  a  goitre  and  a  swelled  chin 
had  come  to  his  house  and  had  shown  the  gii'ls  their 
future  husbands  in  a  peepsliow. 

The  officers  of  the  court  then  searched  Bichel's 
house,  and  found  in  his  room  a  chest  filled  with 
women's  clothes  :  many  more,  which  were  at  onc(^ 
recognised  as  having  belonged  to  Catherine,  were 
found  in  the  loft.  Bichel's  wife  declared  that  she 
knew  nothing  at  all  of  the  latter  ;  those  in  the  chest 
she  said  had  been  given  to  her  by  her  husband, 
who  had  received  them  from  the  father  of  Barbara 
Reisinger,  the  other  missing  girl.  Walburga  and 
Theresa  Seidel  separately  recognised  a  great  num- 
ber of  these  clothes  as  their  sister's,  and  many  more 
as  Barbara  Reisinger's.  Several  other  witnesses 
proved  that  Bichel's  wife  had  sold  various  articles 
of  dress  belonging  to  these  two  women,  and  had 
worn  others.  It  likewise  appeared  that  Bichel, 
both  before  and  after  Catherine  Seidel's  disappear- 
ance, had  tried  to  induce  several  other  girls  to  go 
to  his  house  by  offering  to  tell  their  fortunes ;  and 
on  the  day  of  Catherine  Seidel's  disappearance, 
she  had  been  seen  iu  the  neighborhood  of  liis  house 
with  a  bundle  under  her  arm  at  about  two  r.  m. 

All  this  indicated  some  strange  and  horrible 
deed,  but  piT>of  of  a  murder  having  been  committed 
was  still  wanting.  It  was  certain  that  Catherine  Sei- 
del had  disappeared  :  it  was  equally  certain  that 
Barbara  Reisinger  had  also  disappeared ;  and  no 
doubt  could  exist  that  some  ci'ime  had  been  com- 
mitted, but  whether  this  crime  was  abduction,  man- 
slaughter, or  murder,  it  was  not  easy  to  discover. 
No  dead  bodies  were  to  be  found,  no  stains  of 
blood  or  other  traces  of  violence  were  visible. 

The  discovery  was  at  length  made  by  means  of 
a  dog.  Whenever  the  police  sergeant  went  to 
Bichel's  house,  his  dog  ran  towards  the  wood-shed 
in  the  yard,  and  sniffed  at  it  until  repeatedly  called 


ANDREW    niCHEL.  275 

off.  This  excited  the  attention  of  his  master,  who 
accordingly  took  with  him  some  other  men,  and  on 
the  22d  of  May  they  commenced  digging  within 
and  around  the  shed.  They  had  scarce  turned  up 
the  earth  in  one  corner,  where  a  good  deal  of  straw 
and  litter  was  closely  heaped  together,  before  they 
found  several  bones,  and  a  foot  or  so  deeper  they 
discovered  the  lowerhalf  of  ahuman  body  wi-apped 
in  some  cotton  rags.  A  large  heap  of  logs  lay  just 
above  the  shed  near  a  chalk-pit :  when  these  were 
removed,  and  they  had  dug  to  a  little  depth,  they 
came  upon  a  half-decayed  head,  and  the  upper 
part  of  a  body,  which  the  police  sergeant  imme- 
diately conjectured  to  be  that  of  Reisinger.  At  a 
short  distance  they  found,  after  some  digging,  a 
second  body,  which  likewise  appeared  to  have  been 
cut  in  half.  This  the  police  and  the  witnesses 
present  immediately  recognised,  by  the  features 
and  by  the  pinchback  eamngs,  as  the  corpse  of 
Catherine  Seidel.  These  remains  were  carefully 
conveyed  into  the  sitting-room,  where  they  were 
guarded  by  four  men. 

Andrew  Bichel  was  just  about  to  be  examined 
for  the  second  time  when  information  of  this  im- 
portant discovery  reached  the  court,  which  imme- 
diately proceeded,  accompanied  by  a  physician 
and  two  surgeons,  to  Bichel's  house  at  Regendorf. 
The  spot  in  which  the  bodies  had  been  found,  and 
the  remains  themselves,  were  carefully  examined. 
From  the  appearance  of  both  bodies  the  physicians 
were  of  opinion  that  they  must  have  been  cut  up 
the  middle  with  a  sharp  knife  driven  in  by  a  ham- 
mer :  the  arms  were  still  attached  to  the  sides;  the 
feet  had  been  cut  off  just  above  the  ankles.  The 
physician  declared  in  the  report  which  he  drew  up 
for  the  court  on  the  second  dead  body,  "  That  he 
found  no  reason  to  suppose  that  the  person  was 
dead  or  even  mortally  wounded  before  she  was  cut 


276  nEMARKABLE    CRIMINAL    TRIALS. 

up.  She  might  liave  been  stunned  by  a  blow  on 
the  head,  but  it  could  not  have  been  mortal,  neither 
was  the  stab  in  tlie  neck  sufficient  to  have  produced 
death  ;  he  therefore  conceived  that  her  death  was 
occasioned  by  cutting  open  and  dividing  her  body." 

The  second  dead  body  was  recognised  as  that 
of  Catherine  Seidel.  Her  two  vsisters  identified 
the  ear  rings  and  some  silver  buttons  which  were 
found  in  Bichel's  house  as  hers.  Humanity  in- 
duced the  judge  to  spare  the  sisters  the  painful  task 
of  identifying  the  body. 

Bichel  was  now  examined  a  second  time.  He 
began  by  declaring  that  he  would  now  speak  the 
truth,  whereupon  he  told  a  long  story  of  how 
Catherine  Seidel  had  been  murdered  by  strangers 
in  his  house;  he,  however,  immediately  retracted 
this,  and  approached  somewhat  nearer  to  the 
truth.  Promising  to  be  no  longer  obstinate,  and 
to  tell  all  he  knew,  provided  he  were  not  punished, 
he  confessed  that  in  the  heat  of  an  anerv  discussion 
he  had  killed  Catherine  Seidel  by  striking  her 
vnth  a  log  of  wood.  Every  succeeding  question 
was  answered  by  a  fresh  lie,  and  every  lie  was 
followed  by  a  confession  of  something  approaching 
the  truth,  which  was  again  disguised  by  falsehood 
and  prevarication  ;  until,  at  length,  spite  of  his  de- 
termination not  to  confess  even  the  most  indifferent 
circumstances,  the  court  with  great  difficulty  ar- 
rived at  the  conclusion — that  he  had  murdered 
Seidel  for  the  sake  of  her  clothes,  and  that  he  had 
then  cut  her  up  and  buried  her  remains. 

When  he  was  qiiestioned  concerning  the  other 
corpse  which  had  been  found  in  his  house,  he 
turned  pale,  trembled,  and  again  reddened,  but 
stoutly  denied  all  knowledge  of  the  body.  On 
further  inquiry,  he  stated  that  a  distant  cousin  of 
his,  whose  christian  name  was  Barbara  (her  sur- 
name he  professed  not  to  remember),  and  whose 


ANDREW  BICHEL,  277 

father  was  a  day-laborer  at  Loiscnrietli,  hail  once 
served  as  bar-maid  at  a  tavern  at  Regendorf,  that 
he  had  lately  seen  her  at  Ratisbon,  and  that  she 
had  given  him  some  of  her  clothes  during  the  past 
year,  partly  as  a  present  and  partly  to  sell  for  her. 

During  the  whole  of  this  examination,  in  the 
course  of  which  ninety-one  questions  were  put  to 
him,  his  eyes  were  fixed  upon  the  ground,  and  his 
manner  betrayed  the  conflict  in  his  mind  between 
wickedness  and  confusion :  at  every  fresh  admis- 
sion wrung  from  him  by  the  force  of  overpowering 
evidence,  he  showed  great  vexation,  but  not  the 
sliffhtest  feelino:  of  sorrow  or  contrition. 

At  this  juncture  the  judge  reminded  the  court 
of  a  clause  in  the  royal  decree  of  the  7th  of  July, 
1806,  for  the  abolition  of  torture,  directing  the 
conduct  to  be  observed  towards  criminals  who  re- 
fused to  confess ;  namely,  that  the  criminal  be 
conveyed  to  the  spot  where  the  murder  was  com- 
mitted, and,  if  possible,  examined  in  the  very  pres- 
ence of  the  corpse.*  Bichel  was  accordingly  con- 
veyed to  Regendorf.  He  was  first  taken  to  the 
town-hall,  and  even  there  the  feeling  that  he  was 
approaching  the  scene  of  his  crimes  so  overpow- 
ered him,  that  he  was  near  fainting,  and  they  were 
obliged  to  give  him  water  to  drink.  The  provin- 
cial judge  then  addressed  him  as  follows  : — "  You 
are  now  close  to  your  own  home — the  scene  of 
vour  crimes  ;  confess  the  truth  at  once,  or  you 
will  be  conducted  to  your  own  house,  where  you 
will  behold  the  bodies  of  your  victims."  But  as 
yet  his  will  was  stronger  than  even  the  power- 
ful feelings  which  agitated  his  mind.  He  sted- 
fastly  asserted  that  he  knew  nothing  of  the  first 

*  Feuerbach  remarks  that  this  proceeding  has  generally  suc- 
ceeded in  Bavaria.  A  murderer  who  had  obstinately  persevered 
in  denial  of  his  guilt  for  three  years,  immediately  confessed  on 
being  conducted  to  the  spot  of  the  murder.  He  adds  that  in  cases 
of  child-murder  this  has  never  failed. 


278  REMARKABLE    CRIMINAL    TRIALS. 

corpse  which  was  said  to  have  been  found  in  his 
house. 

Hereupon  he  was  taken  to  his  own  house,  where 
the  two  dead  bodies  were  laid  each  upon  a  board 
as  well  as  the  remains  could  be  put  together.  On 
being  led  up  to  the  first,  that  of  Barbara  Reisinger, 
Bichel  trembled  in  every  limb,  his  face  was  con- 
vulsed, his  looks  became  fearful,  and  he  asked  for 
water.  When  asked  whether  he  knew  the  body, 
he  answered  with  a  hollow  voice,  "No!  I  never 
before  saw  a  corpse  which  had  lain  in  the  grave." 
On  being  taken  to  the  second  body,  he  could  no 
longer  stand,  but  sank  into  a  chair  :  all  his  muscles 
quivered,  and  his  face  was  horribly  distorted.  He 
then  declared  that  he  recotjnised  Catherine  Seidel 
in  the  corpse  before  him.  "  I  recognise  her,"  said 
he,  "  by  the  hands,  and  by  the  way  in  which  the 
body  is  cut  open."  The  judge  asked  liim  why  he 
was  so  much  agitated  on  seeing  the  first  corpse. 
"  I  only  trembled,"  said  he,  "  at  the  sight — who 
would  not  tremble  on  such  an  occasion  V  He 
persisted  in  his  former  assertions  of  complete  ig- 
norance. 

Meanwhile,  however,  the  impression  left  on  his 
mind  by  this  scene  did  not  wear  oft".  In  his  soli- 
tary prison  the  terrors  of  his  imagination  overcame 
his  obstinacy.  Two  days  after,  Bichel  demanded 
an  audience,  and  confessed  himself  guilty  of  the 
murder  of  Barbara  Reisinger  also.  He  denied  that 
his  wife  had  any  share  in  or  even  knowledge  of 
either  murder. 

After  repeated  examinations,  in  which  all  the 
circumstances  of  the  murder  were  completely  as- 
certained by  his  own  confession,  as  well  as  by  the 
evidence  of  witnesses,  the  report  was  sent  to  the 
court  of  appeal  at  Neuburg,  by  which  judgment 
was  pronounced  on  the  4th  of  February,  1809,  to 
the  followiuQ^  effect  : — 


ANDREW    BICIIEL.  279 

"  That  Andrew  Bichel  of  Regentlorf  be  dragged 
to  the  place  of  execution,  there  to  be  broken  on  the 
wheel  from  the  feet  upwards,  without  the  previous 
mercy-stroke,  and  his  body  to  be  afterwards  ex- 
posed on  the  wheel." 

This  judg^ment  was  confinned  by  the  central 
court  to  wl)ich  it  was  sent  for  revision. 

Andrew  Bichel  was  forty-eight  years  of  age,  a 
Catholic,  and  born  of  peasants  living  at  Wetter- 
feld :  both  his  parents  were  dead.  He  married  at 
Regendorf,  where  he  owned  a  cottage  worth  about 
200  florins.  He  had  no  children  by  his  wife,  with 
whom  he  lived  on  excellent  terms.  His  reputation 
was  not  particularly  bad,  indeed  his  faults  are  best 
described  by  negatives.  He  was  not  a  drunkard, 
nor  a  gambler,  nor  quarrelsome  :  nay,  more,  he 
was  distinguished  for  piety.  On  the  other  hand 
he  was  given  to  pilfering,  and  was,  according  to 
common  report,  in  the  habit  of  robbing  his  neigh- 
bors' gardens.  He  was  employed  by  the  innkeeper 
at  Regendorf  for  three  years.  During  this  time 
he  committed,  a  variety  of  petty  thefts,  which  his 
master  forjiave  him,  till  at  leng^th  Bichel  so  far 
presumed  upon  his  good  nature  as  to  steal  his  hay 
out  of  the  loft,  whereupon  mine  host  discharged  him 
from  his  ser\'ice. 

These  few  traits  of  character  are  significant  of  a 
covetous  and  abject  nature,  shrinking  from  risk 
and  from  punishment,  though  not  from  crime. 
Even  his  easy  behavior  towards  his  wife  and  his 
neighbors  did  not  proceed  fiom  a  kind  but  from  a 
cowardly  disposition  :  it  was  the  conduct  of  a  man 
content  quietly  to  suffer  wrong,  from  want  of 
courage  to  resist  it,  who  dares  not  injure  others  for 
fear  of  being  injured  in  return,  and  who  patiently 
endures  insults  only  because  he  is  too  timid  to 
revenge  them.  The  outbreak  of  ferocity  in  such  a 
nature  is  all  the  more  terrible  when  a  secret  and 


280  REMARKABLE    CRIMINAL    TRIALS. 

safe  opportunity  presents  itself.  Cowardice  is 
almost  always  allied  with  cunning,  and  usually 
with  cruelty  and  malice.  To  men  of  this  character 
the  innocent  and  the  weak  seem  lilting  objects 
whereon  to  wreak  their  vengeance  for  the  injuries 
which  their  self-love  has  received.  Nothing  is 
more  true  than  the  old  saying,  that  the  most  abject 
slave  becomes  the  inost  cruel  tyrant.  Another  re- 
markable trait  in  the  character  of  Bichel  was  a 
degree  of  covetousness  which  looked  upon  no 
booty  as  too  small  to  be  worth  obtaining  even  by 
the  greatest  crimes,  if  they  could  but  be  committed 
without  danojer.  Such  a  character  as  Bichel's  is 
made  up  of  cruelty,  insensibility,  avarice,  and 
cowardice,  allied  to  a  very  limited  understanding 
and  to  a  coarse  nature  utterly  unsoftened  by  edu- 
cation. A  man  thus  constituted  will  commit  no 
crimes  requiring  energy  or  courage  ;  he  will  never 
venture  to  rob  on  the  highway,  or  to  break  into  a 
house ;  but  he  would  commit  arson,  administer 
poison,  murder  a  man  in  his  sleep,  or,  like  Bichel, 
cunningly  induce  young  girls  to  go  to  him,  and  then 
murder  them  in  cold  blood  for  the  sake  of  their 
clothes,  or  of  a  few  pence. 

The  first  murder  of  this  sort,  at  least  the  first 
which  had  been  detected,  was  that  committed  on 
Barbara  Reisingcr  of  Loiscnrieth,  soon  after 
Michaelmas,  180G.  While  out  of  place  she  lived 
with  her  parents,  but  left  them  towards  Michaelmas 
in  search  of  service.  For  this  jiurpose  she  went 
to  Andrew  Bichel,  who  had  promised  to  get  her  a 
place.  She  found  him  at  home  with  his  wife,  and 
told  him  the  object  of  her  visit.  He  replied  that 
he  just  then  knew  of  no  suitable  place  for  her  ; 
wlicreu])on  she  said  that  she  would  go  to  llatisbon 
and  try  her  luck  there.  While  they  were  talking, 
l^ichel's  wife,  according  to  his  own  account,  went 
away  to  her  work  at  another  village,  whence  she 


ANDREW    BICIIEL.  281 

was  not  to  return  till  evening.  When  he  was  left 
alone  with  Barbara  Reisinger,  the  thought  struck 
him  (if,  indeed,  it  had  not  done  so  long  before)  to 
mm-der  her  for  her  clothes  : — it  is  true  that  she  had 
nothing  with  her  but  the  gown  on  her  back  ; — but 
her  father  had  all  her  clothes  in  his  keeping,  and 
as  he  knew  that  his  children  were  acquainted  with 
Bichel,  and  that  Barbara  was  gone  to  Bichel's 
house  in  the  hope  of  hearing  of  a  place,  nothing 
could  be  easier  than  to  obtain  these  clothes  under 
some  specious  pretext. 

Bichel    turned  the   conversation    with   Barbara 
Reisinger  upon  witchcraft,    and   told  her  that  he 
possessed  a  magic  mirror,  in  which  every  young 
woman  could  see  her  future  fate,  her  lover,  her 
destined  husband,  and  the  like ;   all,  in  short,  that 
is  most  interesting  to  the  female  heart.     The  poor 
girl  readily  fell  into  the  snare,  and  was  filled  with 
curiosity  to  look  into  this  magic  mirror.     Bichel 
left  the   room   for   a  few  minutes,  folded  a  white 
cloth  round  a  board,  and  returned  with  this  pre- 
tended mirror,  and   a  small  common  magnifying 
glass.     He  placed  them  both  on  the  table,  desiring 
her  on  no  account  to  touch  these  sacred  objects : 
he  then  told  her  that  she  must  allow  her  eyes  to 
be  bandaged,  and  her  hands  to  be  tied  behind  her 
back,  in  order  to  prevent  her  from  even  making 
the  attempt.     The  deluded  girl  consented  to  every- 
thing, and  Bichel  bound  a  handkerchief  over  her 
eyes,  tied  her  hands   together,  and   then  stabbed 
her  in  the  neck  with  a  knife  ;  she  fetched  one  sigh, 
and  instantly  fell.     He  then  cut  her  open,  chopped 
her  body  to   pieces,  in   order  the  more  easily  to 
conceal  it,  and  buried  the  remains  in  and  near  the 
shed  where  the  corpses  were  subsequently  found. 
He    then  washed   the  room,  which  was  deluged 
with  blood,  and  strewed  sand  and  ashes  over  it  to 
conceal  the  stains.    He  told  his  wife  on  her  retum, 

Aa2 


282  REMARKABLE    CRIMINAL    TRIALS. 

when  she  remarked  how  wet  the  room  was,  that 
he  had  spilt  a  bucket  of  water. 

Neither  his  peace  of  mind  nor  his  outward  de- 
meanor were  the  least  disturbed  by  this  act.  He 
went  on  with  his  usual  avocations,  and  in  due  time 
contrived  in  the  most  cold-blooded  manner  to  reap 
the  reward  of  his  labor.  He  started  during  the 
Christmas  holidays  for  Loisenrieth,  in  order  to 
fetch  the  murdered  woman's  clothes.  On  his  way 
he  was  met  by  Barbara's  father  going  to  Regen- 
dorf  to  hiquire  after  his  daughter.  "  Well,  how  is 
this?  have  you  not  yet  sent  her  clothes'?"  exclaim- 
ed Bichel.  "  I  have  already  despatched  several 
messages  to  you  desiring  you  to  forward  your 
child's  clothes  to  me.  She  is  in  service  with  an 
ambassador — she  is  married,  and  she  and  her  hus- 
band have  an  estate  to  manage.  She  commis- 
sioned me  to  send  her  clothes  after  her."  The 
father  maintained  that  he  had  received  no  message. 
"  Well,  then,"  continued  Bichel,  "  since  I  am  so 
far  on  the  way,  I  will  return  with  you  and  fetch 
them."  He  did  so.  The  mother  carefully  packed 
up  all  lier  daughter's  clothes,  and  gave  them  to 
Bichel.  The  father  accompanied  him  to  some  dis- 
tance, carrying  the  booty  for  him  as  far  as  a  cer- 
tain public-house,  where  they  separated.  Old 
Reisinger  afterwards  heard  that  Bichel  was  selHng 
some  of  his  daughter's  clothes.  He  went  three 
several  times  to  Ratisbon  to  inquire  after  his 
daughter,  but  of  course  obtained  no  information 
about  her.  At  last  he  went  to  Bichel  himself  at 
Regendorf,  reproached  him,  and  called  him  a 
rogue.  But  Bichel  drove  him  away  with  threats, 
and  told  him  not  to  trouble  himself  any  further 
about  his  daughter,  who  was  well  provided  for. 

The  length  of  time  during  which  this  crime  re- 
mnined  undiscovered,  can  only  be  accounted  for 
by  the  ignorance  and  boundless  simplicity  of  Bar- 


ANDREW  BICHEL.  283 

bara  Reisinger's  parents,  and  of  the  other  persons 
to  whom  so  many  suspicious  circumstances  were 
known. 

Meanwhile,  Bichel  sought  for  fresh  victims. 
The  first  murder  was  so  easily  perpetrated,  and 
so  richly  rewarded,  that  he  determined  to  make  a 
trade  of  it.  A  man  who  has  once  deliberately 
committed  an  inhuman  action  will  not,  so  long  as 
the  same  motives  to  crime  exist,  rest  content  with 
his  first  exploit.  Once  acquainted  with  honors, 
he  will  soon  become  familiarised  with  them. 

Bichel  now  looked  about  for  other  girls  whom  he 
might  delude  by  superstition,  and  entice  into  his 
power,  and  within  reach  of  his  knife.  It  is  not 
exactly  known  upon  how  many  he  tried  his  cun- 
ning :  the  letjal  authorities,  however,  heard  of  sev- 
eral.  About  Christmas,  1807,  he  cast  his  eyes 
upon  a  girl  of  one  and  twenty,  called  Graber :  he 
turned  the  conversation  upon  her  absent  lover,  and 
asked  if  she  had  lately  heard  from  him.  She  an- 
swered that  she  had  not;  and  he  said,  "Well,  if 
you  will  say  nothing  about  it  to  any  one,  you  may 
come  to  rae,  and  I  will  then  let  you  look  in  my 
magic  glass,  which  will  show  you  whether  your 
lover  be  alive  or  dead.  But  in  order  to  see  this 
you  must  put  on  a  boddice,  which  is  so  holy  that 
it  can  only  be  touched  with  a  cloth."  He  added 
that  she  must  bring  her  best  clothes,  and  her  finest 
shift.  She  promised  to  go  to  him,  but  did  not 
keep  her  word,  and  Bichel  sent  a  woman  to  her  a 
few  days  before  his  arrest,  to  bid  her  hasten  her 
visit.  He  also  endeavored  by  similar  represent- 
ations to  induce  a  certain  Juliana  Daweck  to  go 
to  him  with  her  clothes,  and  repeatedly  used  the 
most  pressing  entreaties  to  prevail  upon  her  to  do 
so.  He  laid  the  same  snare  for  a  girl  called  Mar- 
garet Heimberger.  These  women  were  saved, 
some  by  their  want  of  faith  in  the  wonderful  prop- 


284  REiMARKABLE    CRIMINAL    TRIALS. 

erties  of  the  magic  min-or,  others  by  a  secret 
dread  of  Bichel,  and  others  again  by  mere  accident. 
Nothing,  however,  happened  to  rescue  the  unfor- 
tunate Catherine  Seidel,  the  discovery  of  whose 
murder  put  an  end  to  his  wicked  deeds. 

Some  nine  months  before,  Seidel's  fine  clothes 
had  attracted  his  attention,  while  he  was  coming 
from  Ratisbon  with  her :  he  at  once  resolved  to 
murder  her,  and  immediately  began  to  prepare 
the  means.  He  entered  into  convei'sation  with 
her,  boasted  of  the  virtues  of  his  magic  mirror, 
and  invited  her  to  come  and  see  it.  Why  she 
did  not  then  go, — whether  he  repeated  his  invita- 
tion several  times,  and  why  the  plan  was  not  ex- 
ecuted until  some  months  afterwards, — is  not  stated 
in  any  of  the  official  documents.  We  will  now  pro- 
ceed in  the  criminal's  own  words,  which  are  too  re- 
markable and  characteristic  to  be  omitted  : — 

"  On  the  day  of  the  murder,"  said  he,  "  I  sent 
for  Catherine,  and  when  she  arrived  I  said  to  her, 
since  we  are  quite  alone  I  will  let  you  look  in  my 
magic  mirror.  But  you  must  go  home  and  fetch 
your  best  clothes,  so  that  you  may  be  able  to  shift 
yourself  several  times.  When  she  had  returned 
in  her  common  working  clothes,  carrying  her 
other  things  in  her  apron,  I  rolled  a  white  napkin 
round  a  board,  and  brought  a  spy-glass,  both  of 
which  I  laid  upon  the  table,  forbidding  her  to 
touch  either  that  or  the  miiTor.  I  then  tied  her 
hands  behind  her  with  a  bit  of  pack-thread,  the 
same  which  I  had  before  used  for  Barbara  Reisin- 
ger,  and  bound  a  handkerchief  over  her  eyes.  I 
then  stabbed  her  in  the  throat  with  a  knife  which 
I  had  in  readiness.  T  had  a  desire  to  see  how  she 
was  made  inwai'dly,  and  for  this  pui-pose  I  took  a 
wedge,  which  I  placed  upon  her  breast  bone,  and 
struck  it  with  a  cobbler's  hammer.  I  thus  opened 
her  breast,  and  cut  through  the  fleshy  paits  of  her 


ANDREW  BICIIEL.  285 

body  with  a  knife.  I  began  to  cut  her  open  as 
soon  as  ever  I  had  stabbed  her  ;  and  no  man,  how- 
ever quickly  he  may  pray,  coukl  get  through  his 
rosary,  or  say  ten  Ave  Marias  in  the  time  it  took 
me  to  cut  open  her  breast  and  the  rest  of  her  body. 
I  cut  up  this  person  as  a  butcher  does  a  sheep, 
chopping  the  corpse  with  an  axe  into  portions 
which  would  go  into  the  pit  which  I  had  already 
dus:  for  it  on  the  hill.  The  whole  time  I  was  so 
eager  that  1  trembled,  and  could  have  cut  out  a  bit 
and  eaten  it.  When  Seidel  had  received  the  first 
stab,  she  screamed,  struggled,  and  sighed  six  or 
seven  times.  As  I  cut  her  open  immediately  after 
stabbing  her,  it  is  very  possible  that  she  may  still 
have  been  alive  when  I  began  cutting.  I  buried 
the  fragments  of  the  body,  after  having  carefully 
locked  the  doors.  I  washed  the  bloody  shift  and 
gown  belonging  to  Seidel  twice,  and  hid  them 
fi'om  my  wife,  as  a  cat  tries  to  hide  its  young,  car- 
rying them  about  from  one  place  to  another.  I 
put  the  other  bloody  things  into  the  stove,  and 
burnt  them. 

"  My  only  reason  for  murdering  Reisinger  and 
Seidel  was  desire  for  their  clothes.  I  must  con- 
fess that  I  did  not  want  them ;  but  it  was  exactly 
as  if  some  one  stood  at  my  elbow,  saying,  *  Do  this 
and  buy  com,'  and  whispered  to  me  that  I  should 
thus  get  something  without  risk  of  discovery." 

The  sentence  of  breaking  oil  the  wheel  from 
the  feet  upwards,  which  had  been  pronounced  in 
accordance  with  the  laws  still  in  force,  was  com- 
muted to  beheading.  This  was  done,  not  for  the 
sake  of  sparing  the  criminal,  whose  crimes  de- 
served the  exti'emest  punishment,  but  out  of  regard 
to  the  moral  dignity  of  the  state,  which  ought  not, 
as  it  were,  to  vie  with  a  murderer  in  cruelty. 


JOHN    HOLZINGER. 

MANSLAUGHTER,  MURDER,  AND  SUICIDE,  FROM 
LOVE  AND  JEALOUSY. 


John  Conrad  Holzinger,  a  Lutheran,  was 
boni  in  1790,  at  Ansbach,  where  he  carried  on 
the  trade  of  a  vintner.  He  possessed  a  couple  of 
houses,  mortgaged  to  half  their  value,  an  acre  of 
land,  and  a  wine-shop,  worth  about  1200  florins. 
By  his  first  wife  he  had  four  children. 

He  was  a  tall  strongly-made  man,  with  a  some- 
what repulsive  countenance.  His  health  was  equal 
to  his  muscular  strength,  and  he  had  never  suffered 
from  any  illness,  although  he  frequently  complained 
of  determination  of  blood  to  the  head,  and  of  nerv- 
ous agitation.  He  had  received  the  usual  educa- 
tion of  his  class,  and  possessed  a  fair  understand- 
ing ;  he  was  cheerful,  obliging,  and  ready  to  talk, 
which  made  him  a  generally  welcome  guest.  He 
was,  however,  subject  to  sudden  but  transient  fits 
of  passion,  during  which  he  frequently  smashed 
the  glasses  and  crockery,  but  had  never  been 
known  to  proceed  to  personal  violence. 

His  friends,  relations,  and  sei"vants  were  unani- 
mous in  their  praises  of  the  goodness  of  his  heart. 
His  maid-servants  described  him  as  "  a  kind-hearted 
man,  who  would  not  offend  even  a  child  ;"  and  his 
apprentice  said  that  he  was  "  an  excellent  fellow, 
who  would  do  whatever  he  was  asked."  The  dis- 
trict physician  said  the  same  thing,  and  asserted 


JOHN    HOLZINGER.  287 

that  Holzingei-'s  wife  had  more  than  once  de- 
scribed her  husband  as  "  a  kind  good  man,  from 
■whom  everything  was  to  be  got  with  pro[)er  ma- 
nagement." This  sort  of  praise  is  doubtful  at  best, 
and  is  generally  bestowed  upon  those  who  are 
wanting  in  real  moral  worth,  and  whose  easy  good- 
nature is  but  the  sign  of  a  weak  and  yielding  dis- 
position. 

In  Holzinger  this  facile  temper  was  rendered 
still  less  estimable  by  being  combined  with  un- 
manly cowardice,  and  worse  than  childish  teiTors. 
If  any  one  opposed  him  with  firmness  he  instantly 
sank  into  abject  submissiveness,  even  in  the  midst 
of  the  most  violent  fits  of  anger.  If  roughly  ad- 
dressed, he  started  in  affright.  As  a  child  he  ran 
away  when  his  comrades  fought,  and  he  did  not 
dare  to  walk  alone  after  dark  in  the  fields,  much 
less  in  a  wood.  A  man  not  half  his  size  once  in 
jest  pretended  to  attack  him  on  meeting  him  in 
the  dai'k,  whereupon  Holzinger  ran  away  in 
terror. 

Lastly,  Holzinger  was  beyond  measure  licenti- 
ous and  inconstant. 

After  his  wife's  death,  which  took  place  in  June, 
1818,  her  sister  Christiana,  the  divorced*  wife  of 
a  clergyman,  a  handsome  woman  of  about  thirty, 
undertook  the  direction  of  his  household.  The 
most  intimate  connection  was  soon  formed  be- 
tween them,  and  Holzinger  seriously  intended  to 
marry  her.  He  passionately  loved  her,  and  be- 
came so  accustomed  to  her  society  as  never  to  be 
easy  without  her.  He  did  nothing  without  first 
consulting  her,  and  was  completely  under  her 
dominion. 

*  The  reader  must  keep  in  mind  that  divorce  d.  vinculo  matri- 
monii is  permitted  by  law  in  Protestant  Germany  for  causes  far 
lighter  than  those  in  which  the  English  legislature  interferes.  A 
divorce,  therefore,  does  not  necessarily  imply  adultery. —  Transl. 


288  REMARKABLE    CRIMI^IAL    TRIALS. 

According  to  the  testimony  of  the  authorities,  her 
conduct  was  blameless ;  but  those  who  knew  her 
intimately  spoke  of  her  capricious  and  quari'elsome 
disposition.  Whenever  Holzinger  did  anything  to 
displease  her ;  if,  for  instance,  he  stayed  too  long 
at  the  public-house,  or  drank  too  freely,  she  re- 
proached him  in  coarse  and  violent  language. 
These  misunderstandings  did  not,  however,  at  all 
disturb  the  connection  subsisting  between  them, 
and  were  always  quickly  over.  Holzinger  always 
gave  way  to  her,  and  endeavored  to  appease  her 
anger  by  fair  words  and  promises  of  amendment. 
One  of  his  common  phrases  was,  "  Christiana,  are 
you  fond  of  me  V  She  generally  answered  him 
with  a  kindly  "Yes,"  or  with  an  impatient  "What 
is  the  matter  now  1  Wliy  should  I  not  be  fond  of 
you  1"  He  scarcely  ever  addressed  her  without 
pressing  her  hand,  or  putting  his  arm  round  her 
neck  in  an  affectionate  manner. 

Although  Christiana  granted  every  favor  to  her 
lover,  she  steadily  refused  to  give  him  her  hand  in 
marriage,  declaring  that  she  had  determined  once 
for  all  not  to  marry  again.  This  arose,  perhaps, 
from  a  desire  to  indulge  her  inclinations  without 
restraint,  or  perhaps  her  penetration  had  detected 
under  Holzinger's  apparent  good  nature,  qualities 
which  made  her  shrink  from  a  more  permanent 
union  with  him. 

Thus  constantly  refused  by  his  mistress,  Hol- 
zinger was  compelled  by  his  position  as  the 
father  of  a  family  and  as  a  tradesman  to  look 
round  for  another  wife,  and  when  his  connection 
with   Christiana  had  lasted  about  six  months,  he 

selected  a  certain  Johanna  R of  Weissenburg, 

a  woman  of  forty,  who  had  been  twice  manicd, 
and  was  then  divorced  from  her  second  husband. 
This  choice  did  not  in  the  slightest  degree  inter- 
I'UDt  the  intimacy  subsisting  between  Holzinger 


JOHN  HOLZINGER.  289 

and  Christiana.  Everytliing  was  done  by  het 
advice,  and  it  was  agreed  that  the  new  mamage 
should  not  supersede  the  old  love,  Christiana  was 
to  stay  and  manage  his  household  until  after  the 
wedding,  when  she  was  to  return  to  her  own  home 
at  Wassei-triidingen,  where  her  lover  was  to  visit 
her  regularly  once  a  fortnight. 

Holzinger  fetched  his  bride  home  from  Weissen- 
burg,  a  week  before  the  wedding-day,  which  was 
fixed  for  the  3d  of  Januaiy,  1S19.  It  is  more  easy 
to  imagine  than  to  describe  what  he  must  have  felt 
on  seeing  this  woman  of  forty  or  more  contrasted 
with  Christiana  who  had  rejected  his  suit,  and  on 
rememberinsf  that  the  former  would  remain  while 
the  latter  would  shortly  leave  him ;  his  passion 
for  Christiana  was  now  mingled  with  resentment 
against  a  woman  who  could  first  refuse  the  hand 
of  a  lover,  and  with  perfect  indifference  see  him 
married  to  another. 

The  hope  of  occasionally  visiting  Christiana  was 
a  poor  satisfaction  :  he  placed  little  confidence  in 
her  conduct  when  absent  from  him,  and  foresaw 
that  another  lover  would  soon  share  his  mistress 
with  him,  or  pei'haps  entirely  supplant  him.  In- 
deed he  thought  that  the  favored  lover  was  already 
chosen,  in  the  person  of  Carl  Schulz,  his  future 
wife's  nephew,  a  youth  of  twenty,  who  had  accom- 
panied his  aunt  to  Ansbach.  Christiana  frequently 
talked  with  him,  seemed  greatly  pleased  with  his 
company,  and  invited  him  to  visit  her  at  Wasser- 
triidingen.  Schulz  became  the  object  of  violent 
jealousy  to  Holzinger,  who  determined  to  get  him 
out  of  Christiana's  way.  He  accordingly  endeav- 
ored by  marked  incivility  to  force  him  to  leave  his 
house,  even  before  the  mamage.  But  to  Holzinger's 
great  annoyance  Schulz  stayed,  and  Christiana's 
manner  towards  him  remained  unaltered. 

Christiana  rendered  the  evening  before  the  wed- 
19  B  B 


290  REMARKABU:    cRIMliNAL    TKIALS. 

ding  doubly  painful  to  him  by  harsh  behavior, 
which,  contrasted  with  the  attentions  which  she 
paid  to  young  Schulz,  increased  his  agitation,  and 
entirely  got  the  better  of  his  usual  patient  good 
humor.  Holzinger  had  been  at  the  tavern  from 
six  to  eight,  when  Christiana  wrote  him  an  insult- 
ing note,  in  which  she  called  him  "  A  good-for- 
notlnng  drunken  fellow,"  and  desired  him  to  come 
home  nnmed lately.  The  maid  met  him  on  his 
Avay  thither,  and  gave  him  the  note  in  the  street. 
He  read  and  then  tore  the  letter  in  the  presence  of 
Christiana,  who  scolded  and  abused  him  the  while. 
He  endeavored  as  usual  to  appease  her  by  soft 
words  and  excuses,  and  was  so  much  hurt  as  to 
shed  tears ;  but  on  her  continuing  to  reproach  him 
he  w^as  seized  with  sudden  fury,  dashed  a  stone 
jug  to  pieces  on  the  floor,  cursed  and  swore, 
and  tossed  his  arms  wildly  in  the  air.  Chris- 
tiana was  ill-natured  enough  to  represent  his  con- 
duct in  the  most  hateful  colors  to  the  bride  elect, 
whom  she  dissuaded,  even  at  this  stage  of  the  affair, 
from  marrying  him.  Holzinger  saw  in  this  a 
mark  of  the  contempt  and  dislike  with  which  he 
believed  that  Christiana  now  looked  upon  him. 

At  six  o'clock  on  the  following  morning  the 
wedding  was  celebrated  in  the  presence  of  Christi- 
ana and  other  relations.  After  the  ceremony  they 
went  to  Holzinger's  house,  where  they  sat  round  a 
table,  drinking  arrack,  and  all  appeared  to  be  in 
the  best  humor.  The  misunderstanding  of  the 
preceding  day  seemed  entirely  forgotten,  and 
Christiana's  manner  to  him  betokened  complete 
forgiveness  and  reconciliation. 

The  forenoon  passed  without  any  unusual  occur- 
rence. Holzinger  appeared  cheerful  and  good- 
humored,  but  was  observed  to  drink  more  than  was 
his  habit.  Besides  two  glasses  of  anack  on  return- 
ing from  church,  he  drank  beer  and  wine,  and, 


JOHN   IIOLZINGER.  291 

according  to  the  accounts  given  by  his  fiiends,  was 
intoxicated  before  midday.  Nevertheless  the  quan- 
tity he  had  drunk  was  by  no  means  sufficient  to 
deprive  him  of  reason ;  he  acted  and  talked  like 
one  excited  by  drink,  but  was  perfectly  aware  of 
what  he  was  about,  and  in  full  possession  of  all  his 
faculties. 

At  about  one  they  dined  :  Holzinger  ate  no- 
thing but  some  soup.  After  dinner,  Christiana, 
who  was  bidden  to  a  christening,  sent  for  the  haii'- 
dresser,  and  when  he  arrived  she  took  him  by  the 
ai'm,  and  went  into  the  nursery  to  have  her  hair 
curled. 

Holzinger,  whose  jealous  suspicions  were  roused, 
soon  followed  them,  and  looking  through  the  glass- 
door,  saw  the  hair-dresser's  arm  round  Christiana's 
waist.  Holzinger  burst  into  the  room,  gave  the 
hair-dresser  a  violent  box  on  the  ear,  and  asked 
him  what  he  was  about.  Christiana,  enraged  at  his 
behavior,  abused  him,  calling  him  a  coarse  drunken 
fellow.  He  immediately  left  the  room,  and  went 
down  to  the  cellar  to  fetch  some  wine  for  the 
christening.  While  there  he  again  drank  some 
wine,  and  then  returned  to  the  dining-room,  where 
he  found  Schulz,  and  with  him  Christiana  smartly 
dressed  for  the  christening.  Holzinger  went  up  to 
her,  and  putting  his  arm  round  her  neck,  as  was 
his  custom,  said,  "Come  here,  I  have  something  to 
tell  you."  But  she,  who  had  not  yet  forgotten  the 
scene  Avith  the  hair-dresser,  pushed  him  away,  and 
left  the  room  with  the  words,  "  Let  me  go  ;  you  are 
an  ill-conditioned  di'unkard ;  I  will  have  nothing 
more  to  say  to  you."  Schulz  observed  no  agita- 
tion, or  anything  unusual  in  Holzinger,  who  left 
the  room  soon  after. 

"  A  few  minutes  after  Holzinger  had  gone  out 
of  the  room" — these  are  Schulz's  words — "  I 
heard  a  noise  over-head.     I  thought  it  might  be 


292  REMARKABLE    CRIMINAL    TRIALS. 

Holzinger  and  Christiana,  who  had  made  up  their 
quarrel  and  were  romping.  But  before  long,  in 
the  midst  of  the  noise,  I  heard  groans ;  I  ran  up- 
stairs, and  on  opening  the  door  I  saw  Christiana 
lying  on  the  floor.  Holzinger  was  bending  over 
her,  in  the  act  of  cutting  her  throat  with  a  knife  he 
had  in  one  hand,  while  with  the  other  he  held  her 
chin,  and  the  blood  spouted  up  from  her  like  a 
fountain.  As  I  entered,  Holzinger  started  up,  and 
holding  the  bloody  knife  high  over  his  liead,  ex- 
claimed, "  I  am  the  murderer  of  this  harlot!"  He 
then  flung  the  knife  upon  the  ground.  I  stood  a 
short  time  aghast  at  the  sight,  and  then  ran  down- 
stairs and  out  of  the  house,  followed  by  Holzinger's 
wife,  sister,  and  maid-servant,  who  had  come  into 
the  room  in  the  meantime.  HolzinTCr  followed 
us,  brandishing  the  knife  which  he  had  again  seized, 
and  repeatedly  exclaiming,  "  I  am  the  murderer  of 
this  harlot !"  Christiana  gave  no  sign  of  life  :  she 
had  ceased  from  groaning,  and  her  arms  had  sunk 
upon  the  floor." 

Holzinger,  meanwhile,  ran  about  the  house  and 
vard  like  a  madman,  accusinQ:  himself  of  the  mur- 
der  to  every  one,  and  lamenting  the  fate  of  his 
wife  and  children.  When  the  physician,  who  had 
been  sent  for,  arrived,  Holzinger  fell  ujjon  his 
knees  in  despair,  and  repeated  his  self-accusation, 
attributing  his  crime  to  sudden  anger  at  Christiana's 
reproaches.  He  behaved  in  the  same  manner 
before  the  police,  adding  that  he  had  been  driven 
to  murder  her  by  jealousy. 

On  examination  Christiana's  throat  was  found  to 
be  cut  almost  from  ear  to  ear,  and  the  knife,  which 
was  one  commonly  used  at  table,  was  found  con- 
cealed in  the  bed.  It  had  been  carried  up-stairs  to 
cut  the  wedding  cake. 

At  his  first  examination  Holzinger  made  a  full 
confession  in  the  following  words  : — "  I  will  con- 


JOHN    IIOLZINGER.  293 

fess  everything  of  which  I  am  conscious.  I  am 
well  aware  that  I  have  committed  a  dreadful  crime, 
but  such  a  combination  of  cii'cumstances  urged  me  ' 
to  it,  that  in  the  opinion  of  any  unprejudiced  person 
1  must  stand  to  a  great  degree  excused.  My  heart 
is  good,  and  I  never  in  my  life  injured  any  one  in 
cold  blood." 

He  then  repeated  what  the  reader  already 
knows,  adding  that,  after  the  scene  with  the  hair- 
dresser, he  had  gone  up-stairs  intending  to  reproach 
Christiana  with  her  conduct.  "  She  was  very 
angi-y,  and  said,  '  You  wicked  man,  I  will  make 
you  burst  with  jealousy  ;  I  have  a  good  mind  to 
stab  you  with  this  knife,'  with  these  words  she 
pointed  to  a  common  car\ing-knife  which  lay  on 
the  table  beside  the  cake.  At  the  same  time  she 
spat  in  my  face.  I  was  drunk,  and  in  my  rage  lost 
all  control  over  myself,  and  could  no  longer  calcu- 
late the  consequences  of  my  actions.  My  sister-in- 
law  struck  me  on  the  breast,  upon  which  I  snatched 
up  the  knife,  and,  throwing  her  on  the  floor,  cut 
her  throat.  I  was  drunk,  and  so  much  enraged  by 
Christiana's  behavior,  that  I  lost  all  command  over 
myself,  and  was  in  such  a  state  as  not  to  be  ac- 
countable for  my  actions.  INIy  sister-in-law  Avas  to 
blame  for  my  drunkenness ;  she  made  me  drink 
half  a  bottle  of  aiTack  besides  two  bottles  of  wine 
and  two  quarts  of  beer." 

Holzinger,  who  cried  and  sobbed  during  the 
whole  examination,  did  not  seem  to  be  aware  that 
Christiana  was  dead,  and  asked  with  great  emotion, 
whether  she  could  not  be  saved  by  medical  help. 
On  being  told  that  he  was  suspected  of  having 
drunk  the  wine  and  the  arrack  in  order  to  increase 
his  courao-e  for  the  crime  which  he  had  determined 
beforehand  to  commit,  he  answered,  "  I  had  no 
evil  intentions,  and  I  loved  my  sister-in-law  so 
dearly,  that  God  knows  I  could  never  have  harmed 

bb2 


294  REMARKABLE    CRIMINAL    TRIALS. 

her  on  purpose."  In  the  subsequent  examination 
he  again  ref'eiTed  to  the  state  of  his  mind  when  he 
committed  the  murder.  "  I  was  beside  myself; 
my  body  acted,  but  it  was  without  the  consent  of 
my  will.  I  behaved  like  a  madman,  and  knew  not 
what  I  was  doing.  1  was  not  even  aware  that  I 
Iield  the  knife  in  my  hand,  and  it  was  not  till  my 
sister-in-law  lay  bleeding  before  me  that  I  came  to 
my  senses.  Had  not  the  unlucky  knife  lain  on  the 
table  I  should  not  have  been  in  this  trouble."  He 
did  not  know  that  Schulz  had  seen  him  in  the  act, 
nor  did  he  remember  hidintr  the  knife.  He  denied 
all  recollection  of  having  seen  his  sister-in-law  in 
the  parlor,  and  of  what  took  place  there.  He  said 
that  owing  to  the  drunken  state  in  which  he  then 
was  he  could  remember  nothing. 

Holzinger  had  in  his  confession  insinuated  so 
strongly  and  with  so  much  ingenuity  that  at  the 
time  of  the  murder  he  was  scarcely  accountable  for 
his  actions,  that  the  advocate  charged  with  his  de- 
fence founded  his  hopes  of  acquittal  on  this  plea. 
But  in  order  to  ensure  success  it  was  necessary 
that  the  matter  should  be  taken  out  of  the  province 
of  legal  jurisdiction,  and  referred  to  the  medical 
faculty.  Holzinger's  advocate  accordingly  asserted 
"  That  his  client's  brain  and  nervous  system  were 
completely  disorganized,  and  that  he  was  in  a 
state  of  raving  madness  when  he  committed  the 
murder."  He  therefore  demanded  a  consultation 
of  physicians. 

This  was  not  properly  a  case  for  reference  to  a 
medical  board,  and  the  demand  ought  to  have  been 
refused.  "  In  all  cases,"  says  Heinroth,  "  where 
the  motive  to  the  deed  is  evident,  it  is  more  than 
superfluous  to  consult  the  medical  faculty.  Nor 
can  the  assertion  of  the  criminal,  or  the  conjectures 
of  the  advocate  that  the  deed  was  committed  from 
blind  impulse,  or  in  the  confusion  of  the  moment. 


JOHN    HOLZINGER.  295 

be  a  valid  reason  for  medical  examination,  when 
the  motives  for  the  action  are  apparent."*  In  this 
case  the  motive  was  manifest,  according  to  his  own 
confession,  and  the  evidence  of  other  competent 
witnesses. 

It  was  obvious  that  Holzin^er  had  killed  his 
sister-in-law  in  a  fit  of  violent  fury,  excited  by  love 
and  jealousy  ;  and  the  excuse  that  the  gratification 
of  these  passions  is  a  proof  of  deranged  intellect, 
is  inadmissible.  Yet  in  endeavoring  to  show  that 
he  was  not  accountable  for  his  actions,  Holzinger 
could  refer  to  no  derangement  of  intellect  save 
that  arising  from  those  very  passions  which  im- 
pelled him  to  the  deed.  Among  a  hundred  men 
who  commit  murder,  manslaughter,  «Scc.,  there  will 
be  found  scarce  one  who  will  not  describe,  and 
describe  with  perfect  truth,  his  state  during  the 
commission  of  the  crime  as  one  of  passing  madness. 
But  the  madness  of  passion  and  of  crime  cannot 
absolve  a  criminal  of  guilt  either  in  law  or  in  con- 
science, for  it  is  a  madness  that  does  not  beghi 
until  the  criminal  intention  is  already  formed. 

But  what  proved  beyond  doubt  that  Holzinger 
was  accountable  for  his  actions  was  the  fact  that  he 
gave  the  court  a  connected  and  detailed  account  of 
the  origin  and  growth  of  the  passions  which  drove 
him  to  commit  the  crime,  and  of  the  state  of  his 
mind  when  he  committed  it,  and  entered  into  a 
minute  analysis  of  the  derangement  of  his  intellect, 
drawn  from  his  owm  observation.  Holzinger  re- 
membered what  he  had  done,  and  knew  that  it 
was  a  crime.  A  madman,  on  the  contrary,  either 
rejoices  in  his  deed,  or  speaks  of  it  as  an  indiffer-. 
ent  event,  and,  should  his  insanity  leave  him,  the 
whole  thing  appears  to  him  as  a  dream.     That  a 

*  tJber  das  falsche  artzliche  verfahrenbei  criminal  gerichtlichen 
niitersuchungen  zweifelhaftPr  Gemiithszustande. — Hitzig  Zeit- 
schrift.  1828.  1  vol.  f.  125. 


296  REMARKABLE    CRIMINAL    TRIALS. 

madman  should  give  an  account  of  his  madness 
from  his  own  sensations  is  as  incredible  as  that  a 
blind  man  should  relate  that  which  he  has  seen,  or 
a  deaf  man  that  which  he  has  heard. 

Nevertheless  the  demand  made  by  the  advocate 
was  conceded,  and  both  the  district  physician  and 
Holzingcr's  usual  medical  attendant  were  separ- 
ately called  upon  for  their  opinions  as  to  the  state 
of  his  mind. 

The  latter  admitted  that  he  hadneverperceived 
any  symptoms  of  insanity  in  the  prisoner  either 
before  or  since  the  commission  of  his  crime,  and 
that  although  it  was  proved  that  both  his  mother 
and  grandmother  had  for  many  years  suffered  from 
hypochondria,  it  could  not  thence  be  inferred  that 
he  was  actually  afflicted  with  the  same  disease,  but 
only  that,  in  all  probability,  he  had  a  tendency  to- 
wards it.  This  physician,  nevertheless,  concluded 
his  opinion  by  saying  that  Holzinger  was  deprived 
by  drunkenness,  by  the  passion  of  jealousy  and  by 
anger,  of  consciousness  and  self-control,  and  that  he 
was  not  a  free  and  accountable  agent  when  he  com- 
mitted the  murder.  The  district  physician,  on  the 
contrary,  gave  it  as  his  opinion  that  there  were  no 
certain,  or  even  probable,  reasons  for  supposing 
that  Holzinger's  brain  and  nervous  system  were 
disorganized  and  himself  insane  at  the  time  of  the 
murder. 

In  spite  of  this  difference,  however,  the  two 
opinions  tended  towards  the  same  legal  result ;  both 
denied  the  existence  of  actual  insanity  in  Holzin- 
ger's mind,  and  according  to  both  he  was  account' 
able  for  the  death  of  his  sister-in-law. 

Nevertheless,  the  report  of  the  case  was  sent  for 
consideration  to  the  College  of  Medicine,  which, 
on  the  20th  of  April,  1819,  sent  in  a  wordy  and 
incoherent  opinion,  which  concluded  by  saying 
"  that  at  the  time  of  the  murder  he  was  in  a  Ptato 


JOHN    IIOLZINGER.  297 

of  mental  derangement,  arising  partly  from  vio- 
lent passion,  and  paitly  from  latent  hereditary 
tendencies,  which  made  him  irresponsible  for  his 
actions." 

According  to  this  opinion,  then,  the  innocent 
and  unfortunate  prisoner  ought  to  have  been  fully 
acquitted — nor  was  there  in  it  anything  which  could 
even  justify  his  confinement  in  a  madhouse  for  the 
sake  of  public  security  ;  for  the  Medical  College 
itself  admitted  that  he  had  been  in  the  full  posses- 
sion of  his  reason  during  the  whole  course  of  his  life, 
with  the  sole  exception  of  a  few  m^oments,  during 
which  he  went  mad  in  order  to  murder  his  sister- 
in-law,  after  which  he  immediately  returned  to  his 
usual  health  and  sanity. 

One  of  the  arguments  used  by  the  Medical 
College  to  prove  Holzinger's  insanity  was,  that  he 
committed  the  murder  in  a  place,  at  a  time,  and 
under  circumstances  which  none  but  a  madman 
would  have  chosen.  According  to  this,  then,  every 
man  who  suffers  himself  to  be  impelled  by  pas- 
sion to  commit  crimes  which  he  has  not  carefully 
planned  beforehand,  is  a  madman. 

Again,  the  college  strongly  insisted  on  the  fact, 
that  after  seizing  the  knife,  Holzinger  remember- 
ed nothing  moi-e.  Now,  even  if  Holzinger  actually 
made  such  a  statement,  the  ti'uth  of  it  might  very 
fairly  be  questioned  ;  but  his  own  words  were  as 
follows  :  "I  could  no  longer  command  myself, 
and  do  not  know  what  I  did  while  in  that  condi- 
tion ;  I  only  remember  thus  much,  that  I  snatched 
up  a  knife  which  lay  upon  the  table,  seized  my 
sister-in-law,  threw  her  upon  the  floor,  and  cut  her 
throat," 

Among  the  arguments  by  which  the  Medical 
College  sought  to  establish  the  fact  of  the  prison- 
er's insanity,  it  adduced  the  prisoner's  seeming 
jo-norance  of  his   sister-in-law's   death   up  to   the 


298  REMARKABLE    CRIMINAL    TRIALS. 

moment  when  the  body  was  shown  to  him  in 
court,  contrasted  with  his  frantic  behavior  after 
the  deed,  and  his  loud  and  pubhc  self-accusations. 
Far  from  being  a  psychological  j^henomenon,  this 
was  the  mere  invention  of  a  criminal  who  fi-om  the 
very  beginning  artfully  endeavored  to  represent 
himself  as  irresponsible  for  his  actions.  After  the 
murder  Holzin^r  twice  returned  to  the  room 
where  Christiana  lay  weltering  in  her  blood ;  he 
told  his  household  that  he  had  killed  her,  and 
when  the  physicians  arrived  he  showed  them  the 
corpse  himself,  but  expressed  no  hope  that  her  life 
could  possibly  be  saved.  Unless,  then,  his  subse- 
quent ignorance  of  her  death  was,  as  we  believe, 
affected,  we  must  suppose  that  he  was  sane  im- 
mediately after  committing  the  murder,  and  was 
afterwards  seized  with  a  monomania,  under  the  in- 
fluence of  which  he  believed  the  murdered  woman 
to  be  still  living,  and  entertained  hopes  of  her  recov- 
ery, while  on  every  other  subject  he  was  in  the  full 
possession  of  his  faculties. 

As  the  foregoing  medical  opinions  failed  to 
establish  the  fact  which  they  were  intended  to 
prove,  and  were  directly  at  variance  with  ex^jeri- 
ence  and  cominon  sense ;  as,  moreover,  they  con- 
tained every  defect  which  deprives  a  medical  opin- 
ion of  legal  authority,*  and  as  the  deed  itself  was 
fully  proved,  the  Court  was  now  called  upon  to 
decide  whether  the  prisoner  was  guilty  of  murder 
or  only  of  manslaughter. 

The  following  circumstances  appeared  to  indi- 
cate a  murderous  intention : — In  the  first  place, 
Holzinger  did  not  kill  his  sister-in-law  by  a  single 
blow,  stab,  or  shot,  as  is  usually  the  case  in  a  com- 
pletely unpremeditated  murder  committed  in  sud- 
den anger.     A  certain  degree  of  preparation  was 

*  Art.  264,  Nos.  3,.  4,  Part  II.,  of  the  "  Strafgesetzbuch." 


JOH\    HOLZINGER.  299 

necessary,  and  hex-  resistance  had  to  be  overcome 
before  her  death  could  be  effected ;  and  though 
these  actions  occupied  a  very  short  space  of  time, 
that  was  sufficient  to  tlirow  a  suspicion  of  design 
upon  him.  It  also  looked  suspicious  that  Holzin- 
ger  excused  his  unusual  drunkenness  on  the  day  of 
the  murder  by  falsely  stating  that  every  day  since 
Schulz's  arrival  he  had  drunk  enough  to  intoxicate 
himself,  in  the  hojic  of  dispelling  his  jealous  vexa- 
tion. No  less  so  is  the  forgetfulness  which  he 
professed  of  the  scene  in  the  parlor,  when  on  en- 
deavoring to  conciliate  Christiana,  he  was  repulsed 
by  her  with  hard  words,  and  immediately  after 
which  he  followed  her  into  the  upper  room,  and 
there  murdered  her.  One  is  naturally  led  to  the  sup- 
position that  this  forgetfulness  was  affected  by  the 
prisoner,  that  this  very  scene  determined  him  to 
commit  the  murder,  and  that  he  followed  her  up- 
stairs with  that  intention.  His  account  of  her 
behavior  to  him,  of  her  striking  him,  spitting  in  his 
face,  and  threatening  to  stab  him,  seemed,  to  say 
the  least,  exaggerated,  and,  moreover,  he  made 
no  mention  of  any  such  provocations  until  some 
time  after  the  murdei- — the  only  motives  he  at  first 
assigned  were  jealousy  and  resentment  of  her  re- 
proaches. 

These  arguments  were  counterbalanced  by 
others  of  equal  weight.  A  premeditated  murder 
is  generally  committed  secretly,  so  that  the  very 
publicity  of  Holzinger's  crime  renders  it  highly 
probable  that  the  idea  first  occuiTed  to  him  when 
he  had  reached  the  upper  room,  and  that  it  was 
executed  in  the  heat  of  the  moment :  it  is  also  cer- 
tain that  Holzinger  followed  Christiana  unarmed, 
and  used  no  weapon  but  the  knife  Avhich  accident 
threw  in  his  wav.  His  behavior  after  committing 
the  deed — his  wild  despair  and  loud  lamentations 
over  his  dead  mistress,  were  an  additional  confir- 


300  REMARKABLE   CRIMINAL    TRIALS. 

mation  of  the  supposition  that  the  murder  was  un- 
premeditated. 

These  last-mentioned  arguments  outweighed  the 
preceding  ones  in  the  judgment  of  the  Court,  and 
Holzinger  was  accordingly  found  guilty  of  man- 
slaughter on  the  person  Christiana  R . 

The  proper  punishment  for  manslaughter  is  im- 
prisonment in  the  house  of  con-ection  for  an  un- 
,  limited  time  ;*  but  this  may  be  shortened  to  twelve 
or  even  to  eight  years,  if  the  deceased  had  pro- 
voked the  attack  by  extraordinary  insults,  or  if 
the  deed  was  committed  in  a  state  of  drunken- 
ness. In  Holzinger's  case  both  these  excuses  ob- 
tained, in  consideration  of  which  he  was  sen- 
tenced to  eight  years'  imprisonment  iii  the  house 
of  connection. 

On  the  2d  December,  1816,  Holzinger  was  con- 
veyed to  the  fortress  of  Lichtenau,  where  he  was 
treated  with  unusual  indulgence.  He  had  some 
years  before  lost  the  use  of  one  eye  from  a  shot, 
which  procured  for  him  from  the  surgeon  a  certi- 
ficate to  the  effect  that  he  could  not  be  employed 
in  the  work  usually  imposed  upon  the  prisoners, 
without  endangering  his  sight.  He  enjoyed  as 
much  liberty  as  is  consistent  with  confinement 
within  the  walls  of  the  fortress,  and  was  employed 
only  in  easy  tasks.  His  punishment,  in  fact,  con- 
sisted only  in  the  ignominy  attached  to  it,  and  this 
he  seemed  to  feel  as  little  as  he  felt  remorse.  He 
accosted  his  fellow-citizens  who  came  to  visit  the 
prison  without  the  slightest  shame,  either  for  his 
crime,  or  for  his  prison  dress. 

Holzinger's  conduct  while  in  the  house  of  cor- 
rection was,  however,  so  good  in  all  other  respects, 
that  at  the  end  of  six  years,  when  three-fourths  of 
his  tei'm  of  imprisonment  had  expired,  he  obtained 

♦  Art.  157,  Part.  I.,  of  the  "  Strafgesetzbuch." 


JOHN    IIOLZINGER.  301 

his  discharge,  on  the  favorable  report  of  the  gover- 
nor of  the  fortress.* 

The  governor  described  him  as  a  man  of  limited 
intellect  and  defective  education,  physically  and 
morally  enfeebled  by  dissolute  habits.  Six  years' 
residence  amongst  criminals  had  done  more  to 
harden  and  degrade,  than  the  punishment  had 
done  to  amend  him. 

Holzinger  came  back  amongst  his  fellow-citi- 
zens thoroughly  indifferent  to  his  crime,  which  he 
looked  upon  as  a  matter  completely  settled,  and 
with  which  his  conscience  had  nothing  further  to 
do.  He  unblushingly  forced  himself  into  the 
society  of  his  fellow-citizens,  and  even  delighted 
in  turning  the  conversation  upon  his  deed,  in 
order  to  show  how  little  it  weighed  upon  his 
mind.  He  considered  that  a  few  years'  impri- 
sonment had  completely  cleansed  him  from  all 
guilt. 

The  trial  and  imprisonment  had  utterly  ruined 
him,  and  he  was  forced  to  maintain  himself  by 
driving  a  hired  carriage  (Lohnkutsche).  His  wife 
died  during  his  imprisonment,  and  he  was  now  at 
liberty  to  follow  his  inclinations.  He  was  scarcely 
out  of  prison  before  he  formed  a  violent  attachment 
to  a  certain  Rosina  Ott,  a  well-conducted  girl  of 
five-and-tvventy.  From  love  towards  the  daughter 
he  lodgfed  with  the  mother,  who  was  a  washer- 
woman,  and  by  unceasing  attentions  and  apparent 
good  humor,  he  succeeded  not  only  in  overcoming 
her  repugnance  to  a  one-eyed  murderer,  but  even 
in  gaining  her  affections.  Rosina  Ott  was  en- 
deared to  him  by  the  very  labor  it  had  cost  him 
to  win  her,  and  he  soon  gave  fatal  proof  how 
fierce  a  passion  for  her  had  taken  possession  of 
him. 

*  Art.  12,  13,  Part  I.,  of  the  "  Strafgesetzbuch." 

Cc 


302  REMARKABLE    CRIMINAL    TIIIALS. 

Rosina  was  penniless;  a  marriage  with  her  was, 
therefore,  out  of  the  question.  As  Holzinger 
wanted  money,  he  sought  and  obtained  in  marri- 
age a  woman  of  nine-and-thirty,  named  Margaret 
Heimstiidt,  who  possessed  600  florins  ;  no  inconsi- 
derable sum  for  a  man  in  his  circumstances.  He 
now  thought  that  he  liad  so  arranged  matters  as  to 
gain  from  a  wife  what  was  wanting  in  the  mistress, 
while  the  mistress  would  be  to  him  what  the  wife 
could  never  become.  This,  however,  rested  upon 
the  supposition  that  his  wife  would  allow  him  to 
frequent  Rosina,  and  that  the  mother  of  the  latter 
would  suffer  her  daughter's  connection  with  the 
husband  of  another  woman.  In  both  these  expec- 
tations Holzinger  was  disappointed.  Margaret 
Heimstadt,  who  had  lived  with  him  as  his  wife 
ever  since  the  banns  had  first  been  published  in 
church,  and  had  already  surrendered  the  greater 
part  of  her  property  to  him,  forbade  him  all 
further  communication  with  Rosina  Ott.  On  the 
other  hand  Rosina's  mother  interdicted  him  from 
any  future  intercourse  with  her  daughter.  As 
Holzinger  paid  no  attentions  to  the  commands  of 
his  betrothed  wife  or  of  Rosina's  mother,  they  both 
went  before  a  magistrate  at  Ansbach,  where  they 
met — though  without  previous  concert — the  latter 
to  claim  protection  against  Holzinger's  importuni- 
ties to  her  daughter,  the  former  to  break  off  the 
marriage,  and  forbid  the  third  publication  of  the 
banns.  Matters  were,  however,  privately  arranged 
by  the  mediation  of  their  mutual  friends.  Holzinger 
promised  his  future  wife  that  he  would  give  up  all 
connection  with  Rosina,  whereupon  she  consented 
to  retract  her  declaration  with  regard  to  the  publi- 
cation of  the  banns. 

The  banns  were  accordingly  published  for  the 
third  and  last  time  on  Sunday,  18th  February, 
1827,  and   Holzinger  now  found  himself  in   the 


JOHN    HOLZINGER.  303 

same  predicament  as  on  the  3d  January,  1819. 
On  the  one  hand  a  middle-aged  woman  with  whom 
he  must  live  without  affection,  on  the  other  a  fur 
younger  woman,  whom  he  passionately  loved,  and 
whom  he  was  forced  to  resign.  His  bridal  day 
eight  years  before  had  been  marked  by  the  death 
of  his  beloved  Christiana,  and  now  the  festive  Sun- 
day was  destined  to  be  celebrated  in  a  like  man- 
ner. 

On  the  evening  of  the  18th  February  it  was  ru- 
mored in  the  town  of  Ansbach  that  Holzingfer  had 
killed  Rosina  Ott  by  a  pistol  shot.  The  aunt  of  the 
unfortunate  girl,  who  was  an  eye-witness  of  the 
murder,  hastened  to  inform  the  police  of  it.  The 
corpse  was  found  lying  in  the  snow  close  to  a  shed 
in  a  field  just  beyond  the  suburbs  ;  the  clothes 
were  still  burning  in  places,  and  the  fragments  of  a 
pistol  which  had  been  discharged  and  then  broken, 
and  the  lock  of  which  was  covered  with  blood  and 
human  hair,  were  found  close  by. 

Holzinger  had  been  in  the  habit  of  visiting  Rosi- 
na at  her  aunt's  house  after  her  mother  had  forbid- 
den him  her  own.  On  the  18th  February  he  went 
to  this  aunt  and  told  her  that  his  wife  suspected 
his  meetings  with  Rosina,  and  watched  him  accord- 
ingly, so  that  he  could  no  longer  meet  her  at  the 
usual  place,  but  that  he  must  have  a  last  interview 
with  his  mistress,  to  whom  he  wished  to  present 
a  small  farewell  gift  on  taking  leave  of  her.  He, 
therefore,  requested  that  she  would  meet  him  in 
the  evening  at  a  place  outside  the  town.  Rosina, 
on  being  informed  by  her  aunt  of  his  request,  like- 
wise begged  to  be  allowed  this  last  interview,  add- 
ing that  after  this  "she  would  have  nothing  more 
to  say  to  Holzinger."  Her  aunt  went  with  her 
at  half-past  five  to  the  appointed  place,  where 
they  found  Holzinger  waiting  for  them.  The 
aunt  said  that  "their  meeting   was  quite  that  of 


304  REMARKABLE   CRIMINAL    TRIALS. 

two   lovers.     He  kissed  and  pressed  her  in  his 
arms,  saying, '  Mine  you  are  and  mine  you  must 

be.'  " 

On  their  way  home,  as  they  approached  the 
town,  Holzinger  desired  the  aunt  to  leave  them,  as 
he  wished  to  give  the  present  which  he  had  brought 
for  Rosina  to  her  alone.  At  first  she  refused,  and 
even  Rosina  did  not  seem  to  like  the  idea  of  being 
left  alone  with  Holzinger.  At  length,  however, 
she  gave  way,  and  Holzinger  and  Rosina  walked 
towards  the  open  fields. 

The  aunt  pretended  to  remain  behind,  but  from 
distrust  of  Holzinger  she  followed  the  loving  couple 
and  saw  them  ascend  a  hillock.  She  presently 
heard  loud  talking,  and  Rosina's  voice  exclaiming 
in  a  tone  of  distress.  She  hun-ied  up  the  hill,  call- 
ing out  in  alarm,  Rosina,  Rosina  !  "  Oh,  aunt," 
answered  the  girl,  "  he  is  going  to  shoot  me  !"  At 
the  same  moment  he  fired,  and  Rosina  fell  to  the 
ground.  The  aunt  not  only  saw  the  flash  and 
heard  the  report,  but  distinctly  saw  Holzinger  take 
aim  at  Rosina.  She  screamed  aloud  at  the  sight, 
whereupon  Holzinger  turned  towards  her,  and 
called  out  in  a  threatening  voice,  "  If  you  cry  out, 
I  will  serve  you  the  same."  This  frightened  her 
so  much  that  she  ran  away. 

After,  as  it  would  seem,  completing  his  deed  by 
shattering  the  head  and  face  of  his  mistress  with  the 
butt  end  of  his  pistol,  Holzinger  went  to  the  village 
of  Schalkhausen,  about  two  miles  from  Ansbach. 
He  got  there  at  about  ten  o'clock,  and  went  into  a 
tavern,  where  he  seated  himself  at  a  table  in  a  dis- 
tant and  dark  corner,  saying  that  he  had  come  from 
Langenfcld  by  a  very  bad  road,  asked  for  a  quart 
of  beer,  which  he  drank  in  two  or  three  draughts, 
then  for  a  glass  of  brandy,  then  for  another  quart 
of  beer,  and  finally  for  a  "bed.  The  host,  to  whom 
such  a  guest  was  not  very  welcome,  advised  him  to 


JOHN  IIOLZINGER.  305 

go  on  to  the  town  of  Ansbach,  but  he  said  that  he  was 
very  tired,  had  drunk  too  much,  and  that  the  cold 
was  BO  intense  that  he  was  afraid  he  might  be  fro- 
zen to  death  if  he  went  any  farther  so  late  at  night. 
The  host  accordingly  gave  him  a  room  up-staii'S,  to 
which  Holzinger  retired  can-ying  with  hini  a  third 
quart  of  beer.  On  the  following  morning,  at  nine 
o'clock,  Holzinger  had  not  made  his  appearance, 
and  the  host  sent  his  daughter  up-stairs  to  look  after 
him.  She  returned,  saying,  that  she  had  peeped 
through  the  key-hole,  and  had  seen  the  stranger 
standing  by  the  window.  At  eleven  o'clock  the 
host  went  up-stairs  himself,  and  on  opening  the 
door  he  saw  to  his  horror  that  his  guest  had  hung 
himself  on  the  iron  handles  of  the  upper  window, 
and  that  he  was  already  dead. 

The  host  immediately  gave  information  of  the 
event  to  the  proper  authorities,  who  at  once  re- 
paired to  the  spot.  On  examination  it  appeared 
that  Holzinger  had  attempted  to  cut  his  throat,  and 
also  to  stab  himself,  but  it  was  evident  from  the 
appearance  of  the  wounds  that  the  instrument  with 
which  he  had  inflicted  them,  and  which  could  no- 
where be  found,  was  too  blunt,  and  that  failing  in 
his  endeavors,  he  had  ended  by  hanging  himself 
with  his  braces.  Holzinger  had  by  his  suicide  es- 
caped the  sword  of  the  executioner,  from  which, 
in  this  instance,  not  even  the  physicians  could  have 
saved  him. 

This  time  there  could  be  no  doubt  that  both 
the  murder  and  the  suicide  were  premeditated. 
Holzinger  had  betrothed  himself  with  a  woman 
who  was  not  only  indifferent,  but  even  disagreeable 
to  him,  for  the  sake  of  her  money,  of  which  he  had 
already  received  and  spent  the  gi-eater  part.  This 
woman's  jealousy,  and  the  determination  of  Rosi- 
na's  mother  to  suffer  no  intercourse  between  her 
daughter  and  a  married  man,  at  once  frustrated 
20  cc2 


s 


306  REMARKABLE    CRIMINAL    TRIALS. 

the  scheme  by  which  Holzinger  had  hoped  to  com- 
bine the  pleasures  of  love  and  avarice. 

When  Holzinger  had  been  summoned  before  the 
magistrate  at  the  suit  of  liosina's  mother,  and  for- 
bidden all  further  communication  with  the  daufjh- 
ter,  he,  nevertheless,  went  to  her  house,  and  when 
she  refused  to  admit  him,  he  said  with  a  threaten- 
ing voice  and  gesture,  "  You  have  played  me  a 
pretty  trick ;  but  I  don't  care  for  the  magistrate, 
and  you  shall  see  that  Rosina  will  be  mine  in 
spite  of  you." 

Six  days  later  the  real  meaning  of  these  words 
was  explained.  While  he  was  leading  Rosina  to 
death  he  pressed  her  in  his  arms,  saying,  "  Mine 
you  are,  and  mine  you  must  be." 


CASPAR    FRISCH. 

THE    MURDERER  FROM   VANITY. 


On  the  17th  of  July,  1809,  the  Jew  Parnas  Samuel 
informed  the  court  at  Harburg,  in  the  principahty 
of  Wallerstein  in  Bavaria,  that  Joseph  Samuel 
Landauer  had  gone  the  day  before  to  Briinnsee, 
and  that,  contrary  to  his  usual  custom,  he  had  not 
returned  home.  David  Levi,  his  servant,  and  An- 
drew Bonlander  had  gone  out  to  seek  him,  and 
had  at  last  found  him  near  the  old  castle  of  Woll- 
warth,  quite  stiff  and  cold.  The  unfortunate  man 
had  been  conveyed  to  Harburg,  where  the  physi- 
cian pronounced  him  to  be  dead. 

On  inspecting  the  corpse  on  the  following  day, 
great  part  of  the  skull  and  brow  were  found  to  be 
beaten  in,  and  the  nose  and  upper  jaw  broken ; 
but  no  injui'ies  Avero  discovered  on  any  other  parts 
of  the  body,  excepting  on  the  third  finger  of  the 
left  hand,  the  middle  joint  of  which  was  broken 
and  the  skin  abrased.  The  physicians  pronounced 
the  injuries  quite  sufficient  to  cause  death,  and 
conjectured  them  to  have  been  inflicted  with  a 
large  stone  weighing  above  six  pounds,  which  was 
found  on  the  spot,  covered  with  hair  and  blood. 

On  the  very  same  day  distinct  traces  of  the 
murderer  were  discovered.  It  seemed  that  the 
murdered  man  had  been  seen,  on  the  afternoon  on 
which  he  was  murdered,  at  the  house  of  a  certain 
Caspar  Frisch.       One  George  Keck  had  seen  a 


008  REMARKABLE    CRIMINAL    TRIALS. 

man  prowling  about  the  castle  of  Wollwartli  soon 
after,  and  had  recognised  him  by  his  lameness  to 
be  Caspar  Frisch,  who  was  crooked  and  always 
walked  with  a  stick.  This  same  witness  saw  an- 
other person,  whom  he  did  not  know,  go  to  this 
.spot  about  the  same  time,  and  perceived  from  a 
distance  that  two  persons  were  beating  a  third. 
A  young  girl  of  about  thirteen,  who  also  witnessed 
the  struggle  from  a  distance,  spoke  of  these  tivo 
persons — one  wearing  a  black  smock  frock  and  a 
j^easant's  hat,  the  other  a  white  frock  and  a  black 
cap.  She  also  heard  the  man  whom  they  had  beat 
groaning  for  some  time  after. 

They  found  on  the  murdered  man  two  acknowl- 
edgments of  debt,  signed  by  Caspar  Frisch,  relat- 
ing chiefly  to  some  transaction  about  a  watch. 
His  widow  made  the  following  statement  concern- 
ing Frisch.  That  "  about  ten  days  jirevious  to 
the  murder,  he  came  to  their  house  and  told  her 
liusband  that  he  had  buried  his  savintrs  some  years 
ago,  and  for  a  long  time  had  been  unable  to  find 
the  spot.  But  that  lately  as  he  was  going  to  bury 
something  else  he  had  accidentally  discovered  the 
first  money,  consisting  of  Bavai'ian  kreutzers,  which, 
after  paying  his  debts,  he  wished  to  exchange. 
Frisch  then  appointed  her  husband  to  meet  him 
on  the  following  Sunday,  the  16th  of  July,  and  to 
bring  with  him  some  money  and  two  watches 
which  he  wished  to  buy.  Ho  also  charged  him  to 
say  nothing  of  all  this  to  his  cousins,  who  would 
otherwise  want  the  money  to  pay  their  debts 
with.     Her   husband   at  first   thouofht  the  whole 

•  •     •  o 

affair  suspicious,  but  as  Frisch  protested  that  he 
had  earned  the  money  by  honest  labor,  he  was  at 
last  induced  to  go  to  meet  him  on  the  appointed 
day,  and  to  take  with  liini  a  large  sum  of  money 
and  two  silver  watches,  one  of  which  was  a  re- 
])eater." 


CASPAR    FlUtiCH.  309 

The  court  immediately  summoned  Fiiscli  and 
his  cousins  with  whom  ho  lived  to  appear  before 
it,  but  only  as  witnesses.  Frisch  stated  as  follows  : 
"  The  murdered  man  came  to  me  at  one  o'clock, 
partly  in  order  to  bring  a  couple  of  watches  which 
he  had  sold  me  a  week  before,  and  partly  to  fetch 
a  saucepan  lid.  About  two  years  before  I  had 
bought  two  silver  watches  of  the  Jew  for  ninety- 
six  florins,  which  I  had  agi-eed  to  pay  in  six  instal- 
ments. I  had  paid  a  part  of  this  debt,  but  not  all, 
as  I  had  never  been  able  to  find  a  sum  of  two 
hundred  florins  which  I  had  buried  about  five  years 
since  durins:  the  French  invasion.  I  most  unex- 
pectedly  found  this  sum  about  a  fortnight  ago  while 
I  was  new  laying  the  threshold  of  the  old  shed,  and 
immediately  went  to  the  Jew  and  offered  to  pay 
him  the  remainder  of  his  debt.  On  this  occasion 
the  Jew  proposed  to  sell  me  two  watches  which 
he  then  wore,  and  we  agreed  that  the  Jew  was  to 
take  back  the  watches  which  he  had  formerly  sold, 
me,  and  to  let  me  have  the  two  others  in  exchange, 
upon  payment  of  an  additional  sum  of  thirty-six 
florins.  The  Jew  came  to  me  yesterday  to  settle 
the  matter  :  everything  was  done  as  we  had  agreed, 
and  the  Jew  then  changed  what  little  money  was 
left  for  twelve-kreutzcr  pieces.  All  this  was  done 
in  about  twenty  minutes,  after  which  the  Jew  went 
away.  I  stayed  at  home  for  a  short  time,  and  then 
went  to  several  places  and  talked  with  different 
persons,  from  whom  I  heard  that  three  people  had 
been  fighting  up  at  the  old  castle." 

At  the  conclusion  of  his  examination  the  judge 
asked  him  how  he  got  the  scratches  upon  his  face, 
which  looked  as  though  they  had  been  made  by 
some  one's  nails.  He  answered  that  he  had  got  the 
scratch  over  his  eye  on  Saturday,  while  thatching 
his  cousin's  house,  and  that  those  about  his  mouth 
had  been  done  in  shaving. 


310  REMARKABLE    CRIMINAL    TRIALS. 

This  evidence  was  thous:lit  sufficient  to  warrant 
Frisch's  provisional  imprisonment. 

A  number  of  suspicious  circumstances  soon  ap- 
peared against  him.  Several  witnesses  were  ex- 
amined as  to  whether  they  had  seen  the  scratches 
on  his  face  on  the  Saturday  or  on  the  Sunday 
morning  :  some  said  they  could  not  remember,  but 
the  greater  number  confidently  asserted  that  at 
that  time  there  were  no  such  mai-ks  upon  his  face. 
The  wife  of  a  certain  Schwerdberger  stated  that 
Friscli  had  come  to  her  while  her  husband  was  out, 
at  about  six  o'clock  in  the  afternoon  of  Sunday, 
the  day  of  the  murder,  and,  on  entering  the  house, 
said  that  his  legs  trembled  so  violently  and  lie  was 
so  tired,  that  he  must  beg  her  to  give  him  a  glass 
of  water.  .  She  then  observed  that  there  were  fi-esh 
and  bleeding  scratches  upon  his  face.  On  asking 
him  the  cause  of  them,  he  told  her  that  he  had  been 
in  the  wood  to  catch  squirrels,  and  had  fallen  from 
a  tree  and  scratched  his  face  with  the  prickly  leaves 
of  a  fir-tree.  Another  witness  stated  that  "  Frisch 
bad  been  with  him  on  that  very  Sunday,  at  one 
o'clock,  when  he  observed  no  marks  on  his  face ; 
but  that  at  six  o'clock,  when  Frisch  again  called 
upon  him,  he  saw  the  scratches,  and  said  to  him, 
'  You,  too,  must  have  been  fighting  up  at  the  old 
castle,  to  get  so  scratched.'  But  he  denied  this, 
and  again  attributed  the  marks  to  a  fall  while  try- 
ing to  catch  squirrels."  Finally,  the  physician 
who  examined  his  face  declared  that  the  wounds 
were  evidently  produced  by  a  man's  nails,  and 
added  that  on  the  prisoner's  left  hand,  more  es- 
pecially on  the  middle  finger,  there  were  similar 
wounds,  inflicted  beyond  doubt  with  the  nails. 

Such  strong  grounds  for  suspicion  induced  the 
court  to  have  Frisch  brought  before  it  for  special 
examination  on  the  1 9tli  of  July,  that  is,  four  days 
after  the  murder.     It  would  be  useless  to  recapit- 


CASPAR    FRISCH.  311 

ulate  all  the  lies  and  contradictions  in  which  he 
persisted  during  the  first  examination ;  but  scarce 
had  he  returned  to  his  cell  when  he  demanded  a 
fresh  audience,  and  confessed  his  guilt. 

Caspar  Frisch,  a  Protestant,  was  at  this  time  five 
and  twenty  ;  his  mother  had  been  dead  about  seven 
years,  but  his  father  was  living  and  had  married  a 
second  wife.  Frisch  could  not  live  with  his  step- 
mother, who  was  a  well-conducted  but  severe  and 
violent  woman,  and  who  made  greater  demands  on 
her  step-son's  industry  than  he  was  either  able  or 
willing  to  satisfy.  Frisch's  right  leg  was  quite  stiff, 
his  loins  were  paralysed,  and  four  of  the  fingers  of 
his  right  hand  wanted  a  joint.  He  could  only  walk 
with  the  assistance  of  a  stick,  and  was  unable  to 
perform  common  field-laboi".  To  make  up  for  this, 
he  was  very  expert  in  wood-carving  and  in  all 
kinds  of  work  that  did  not  require  much  exertion. 
The  incessant  contention  between  his  step-mother 
and  himself  drove  him  to  seek  refuge  with  his 
cousins,  who  willingly  received  him.  He  served 
them,  as  well  as  his  deformity  permitted  him,  as  a 
carter,  and  in  repairing  the  house  and  the  out- 
houses, and  in  his  leisui'e  hours  earned  a  little 
money  by  his  carvings.  His  cousins  were  always 
indulgent  towards  him  ;  and  his  neisrhbors  had  no 
serious  fault  to  find  with  him.  The  prominent 
defect  of  his  character  was  vanity,  and  a  desire  to 
outshine  his  fellows  in  dress  and  trinkets.  In  these 
he  sought  some  compensation  for  the  deformity  with 
which  nature  had  atfiicted  him.  As  he  could  not 
please  by  his  person,  he  wished  to  do  so  by  the 
splendor  of  his  exterior.  His  crippled  body  ren- 
dered him  an  object  of  pity  or  contempt ;  but  he 
endeavored  by  dress  and  ornament  to  turn  the 
scorn  of  his  associates  into  envy. 

More  than  a  year  before,  he  had  bought  of  the 
Jew,  Joseph  Samuel   Landauer,  first  one  silver 


312  llEMAKKABLE    CIUMINAL    TKIALS. 

watch,  then  another,  a  silver  liat-huckle  and  a  silver 
■watch-chain,  for  which  he  owed  him  one  hundred 
and  thirty-two  florins.  This  sum  greatly  exceeded 
his  means,  but  the  possession  of  such  ornaments 
was  so  tempting,  and  the  term  of  payment  so  distant, 
as  to  silence  all  doubts  and  fears.  Frisch  could 
not,  however,  always  pay  the  instalments  when 
they  became  due,  and  the  thought  would  then  occur 
to  him  that  the  Jew  had  cheated  him,  and  had 
asked  more  than  tlie  things  were  worth. 

About  a  fortnight  before  the  murder  he  saw  in 
the  Jew's  possession  a  silver  repeater,  which  took 
his  fancy.  The  Jew  offered  to  exchange  it  against 
his  old  watch  and  four  carolins.  Frisch  returned 
home  with  his  head  full  of  this  new  temptation, 
and  of  the  old  debt.  *'  The  repeater  is  so  hand- 
some !  I  cannot  pay  for  it ;  and  the  Jew  is  a  cheat." 
Such  were  the  ideas  which  filled  his  mind,  and 
which  soon  suggested  to  him  a  contrivance  for 
getting  rid  of  the  debt  without  paying  it,  and  for 
becoming  at  the  same  time  the  happy  possessor  of 
the  two  new  Avatchcs  :  the  Jew  was  to  be  induced 
to  bring  both  watches  to  Frisch's  house ;  and, 
under  pretence  of  payment,  to  be  persuaded  to  ac- 
company him  to  the  old  castle,  where  he  would 
pretend  to  have  buried  his  money — and  there  the 
Jew  was  to  be  murdered.  Frisch  declared  that 
his  conscience  was  disturbed,  and  that  he  could 
neither  sleep,  eat,  nor  drink  during  the  whole 
week.  This  did  not,  however,  alter  his  determina- 
tion. He  heard  an  owl  hoot  one  night,  and 
thought  that  it  was  intended  as  a  warning  t(»  him ; 
but  he  only  said,  "  Hoot  as  much  as  you  will,  you 
carrion ;  I  will  do  it  spite  of  all  your  hooting." 
The  scheme,  engendered  by  covetousness,  fed  by 
pecuniary  embarrassment,  and  strengthened  by  the 
idea  that  Landauer  had  cheated  him,  found  a  pow- 
erful apology  in  his  contempt  for  the  Jewish  race. 


CASi'Att    FRXSCH.  313 

— "  He  is  but  a  Jew !  there  is  no  harm  done  :  what 
business  had  he  to  charge  so  much  and  to  take  away 
all  my  money  1" 

About  a  week  before  the  murder,  Frisch  went 
to  the  Jew's  house  and  told  him  that  he  had  at 
length  found  the  money  which  he  had  buried  in 
the  shed  in  1805,  when  the  French  entered  Ger- 
many, and  that  he  would  now  pay  his  debt,  and 
give  ready  money  down  for  the  repeater.  The 
Jew  then  produced  not  only  the  repeater,  but  an- 
other small  watch  besides,  which  he  praised  exces- 
sively, telling  him  that  it  was  a  most  excellent 
watch,  so  good  a  one,  that  if  he  bought  it,  he  would 
thank  him  for  it  all  his  life  :  that  there  were  not 
two  other  such  watches  in  all  the  country  round. 
He  agreed  to  purchase  the  repeater,  and  also  a 
larger  and  flatter  watch,  instead  of  the  other,  but 
at  the  same  price.  Frisch  made  an  appointment 
with  the  Jew  for  the  following  Sunday  afternoon, 
when  the  one  was  to  receive  the  watches  and  the 
other  the  money. 

The  Jew  came  as  appointed  at  about  one  p.  m., 
when  Frisch's  cousins  were  fi'om  home,  bringing 
with  him  the  two  watches.  He  desired  Frisch  to 
give  him  a  written  assurance  to  the  eftect  that  the 
money  was  really  his,  and  the  same  which  he  had 
formerly  buried.  The  Jew  then  demanded  pay- 
ment of  his  debt,  but  Frisch  told  him  that  the  mo- 
ney was  concealed  up  in  the  old  castle  between 
two  rocks,  and  that  he  must  go  with  him  to  get  it. 
This  was  in  itself  suspicious,  and  directly  at  va- 
riance with  Frisch's  former  statement,  according 
to  which  the  money  was  buried  in  the  shed.  Nev- 
ertheless, the  simple  Jew,  infatuated  by  love  of 
gain,  merely  exclaimed,  "What!  upon  the  hill! 
only  think!"  and  went  on  his  way  thither.  He 
sat  down  beside  the  stream  at  the  foot  of  the  hill 

Dd 


314  REMARKABLE    CRIMINAL    TRIALS. 

to  wash  his  feet  while  waiting  for  Caspar  Frisch, 
who  went  up  the  other  side  of  the  castle  hill,  and 
beckoned  to  the  Jew,  whom  he  saw  sitting  below, 
to  come  up.  The  Jew,  eager  to  possess  the  mo- 
ney, ran  up,  repeatedly  exclaiming,  "Caspar, 
where  is  it?  where  is  it,  Caspar]"  In  answer  to 
this  question,  Frisch  led  him  to  a  spot  where  three 
fragments  of  rocks  formed  a  sort  of  cavern,  in  which 
he  told  him  that  the  money  was  buried.  Frisch 
now  began  to  tremble  in  every  limb.  He  was 
himself  astonished  at  the  blindness  of  the  Jew  in  not 
taking  alarm  at  his  strange  demeanor.  At  length 
Frisch  stooped  to  the  ground,  and  began  to  remove 
some  stones  ;  but  he  soon  ceased,  saying  that  it  hurt 
his  crippled  fingers,  and  that  the  Jew  must  kneel 
dovra  and  scrape  out  the  earth  and  stones  himself. 
The  Jew  complied,  and  while  he  was  busily  em- 
ployed in  clearing  away  the  stones,  and  thinking  of 
nothing  but  the  treasure  which  was  soon  to  appear, 
Frisch  snatched  up  a  stone,  weighing,  as  he  said, 
about  three  pounds,  and  with  it  struck  the  Jew  on 
the  head  as  hard  as  he  could.  His  victim  fell  back- 
wards, but  quickly  recovered  himself,  and  attacked 
his  murderer,  striking  at  his  face,  and  exclaiming 
in  a  broken  voice,  "  Caspar,  let  me  go!"  Frisch 
now  seized  him  by  the  body,  or,  as  he  afterwards 
said,  by  the  leg,  threw  him  down  and  fell  upon 
him.  Even  then,  the  Jew,  who  was  undermost, 
struggled  hard  for  his  life,  and  would  have  over- 
powered Frisch,  had  not  the  latter  got  one  finger 
of  the  Jew's  left  hand  between  his  teeth,  thus  de- 
priving him  of  the  use  of  the  hand.  The  stones 
which  lay  scattered  around  afforded  ready  instru- 
ments of  murder.  Frisch  struck  the  Avi'etched 
man  about  the  head  and  brow ;  and  although  at 
each  blow  the  stone  dropped  from  his  crippled 
hand,  he  quickly  seized  anothci",  and  continued  the 


CASPAR    FIIISCH.  315 

attack.  He  gave  the  Jcnv  ten  oi*  eleven  blows, 
until  his  head  was  crushed,  and  Frisch  perceived 
that  he  was  dying  :  he  then  robbed  the  dj-ing  man 
of  his  watches  and  money  and  left  him. 

The  accused  repeatedly  confessed  the  deed  as  it 
has  now  been  related.  As  his  confession  agreed 
with  the  circumstances  stated  by  the  witnesses,  and 
was  perfectly  consistent  in  itseh^  it  needs  no  further 
comment. 

There  was,  however,  one  difnculty  which  must 
be  noticed.  The  accused  asserted  that  he  com- 
mitted the  murder  alone.  It,  however,  seemed  in- 
credible that  a  feeble  cripple — who  could  scarce 
walk  without  the  help  of  a  stick — should  have  over- 
powered a  strong  man  in  the  full  use  of  his  limbs. 
This  doubt  was  further  increased  by  the  statement 
of  two  witnesses,  John  Keck  and  Anna  Vogt,  who 
affirmed  that  they  had  seen  two  men  attacking  a 
third.  But  when  we  consider  the  rapidity  of  the 
motions  of  those  engaged  in  conflict,  one  while 
struggling  on  the  ground,  at  another  standing ;  and 
moreover,  that  the  witnesses  saw  the  fight  from 
a  considerable  distance,  it  appears  very  probable 
that  they  may  have  been  deceived.  Another  wit- 
ness, John  Low,  who  first  called  Keek's  attention 
to  the  contest,  stoutly  maintained  that  he  had  seen 
only  two  persons ;  moreover,  Keck  refused  to  re- 
peat his  statement  as  to  three  jieople  on  oath.  The 
doubt  arising  from  the  dispropoition  in  bodily 
strength  between  the  murderer  and  his  victim 
vanishes  when  we  consider  that  the  first  blow  fell 
upon  the  Jew  unawares,  and  apparently  stunned 
him  :  that  fear  often  paralyses  the  strong,  while 
passion  bestows  unwonted  strength  and  activity 
upon  the  weak.  Finally,  there  was  not  the  slight- 
est clue  that  could  lead  to  the  discovery  of  this 
third  person,  and  it  is  not  conceivable  that  Frisch, 


316  REMARKABLE    CRIMINAL    TKIALS. 

who  might  gain  much,  and  could  lose  nothing, 
by  giving  him  up,  should  take  the  whole  blame 
upon  himself,  and  persist  in  the  assertion,  frequently 
and  solemnly  repeated,  that  he  had  no  accom- 
plice. 

The  district  court,  and  subsequently  the  central 
court  of  appeal  at  Munich,  found  Frisch  guilty  of 
robbery  and  mui'der,  and  sentenced  him  to  be 
beheaded. 

According  to  the  strict  letter  of  the  law,  he  should 
have  been  broken  on  the  wheel,  but  the  openness 
of  his  confession  induced  the  judges  to  award  the 
naUder  punishment. 

There  were  no  reasons  for  recommending  the 
accused  to  the  royal  mercy.  He  endeavored  to 
excuse  himself  as  follows  : — 

"  I  could  never  get  rid  of  the  idea  that  the  Jew 
had  overreached  me  :  but  I  always  intended  to 
satisfy  his  demands.  It  was  not  until  one  day  when 
I  was  at  work  in  the  shed  that  it  suddenly  occurred 
to  me  to  murder  the  .Tew,  and  thus  to  free  myself 
from  my  debt.  I  could  never  shake  off"  this  thought, 
which  constantly  troubled  and  disturbed  me.  After 
the  first  blow  I  repented,  and  the  Jew  might  have 
escaped  if  he  had  bvit  gone  away,  or  asked  me 
during  our  struggle  to  let  him  go  ;  besides,  I  could 
not  have  pursued  him.  But  when  the  Jew  attack- 
ed me,  I  thought  he  would  do  to  me  what  I  had 
intended  to  do  by  him." 

This  apology  affords  no  excuse  or  even  pallia- 
tion of  his  crime.  The  trouble  and  confusion 
which  he  described  must  arise  in  every  mind  during: 
the  contest  between  desire  for  any  object  and  the 
scruples  of  conscience.  The  repentance  to  which 
he  alluded  must  have  been  slight  indeed,  for  he 
confessed  that  after  the  first  blow  the  Jew  did 
actually  entreat  him  to  spare  his  life.     Neverthe- 


CASPAR    FRISCIl.  317 

less  he  again  threw  him  on  the  ground,  and  com- 
pleted the  murder.  Assuming  even  that  Frisch, 
according  to  his  o\%'ti  statement,  killed  the  Jew  out- 
right only  in  self-detence,  no  apology  can  be  made 
for  his  crime,  as  he  struck  the  first  blow  with  a 
murderous  intent. 


LUDWIG   STEINER, 

THE   MURDERER  FROM  REVENGE. 


At  about  three  o'clock  in  the  afternoon,  on  the 
26th  of  June,  1821,  the  magistrate  Elsperger,  of 
Ratisbon,  left  his  court  in  the  town-hall  to  take  his 
evening  walk.  He  Avas  crossing  the  market-place, 
when  he  was  met  by  the  shoemaker  Ludwig 
Steiner,  canying  a  piece  of  leather  under  his  ami. 
Several  bystanders  saw  that  an  angry  discussion 
took  place  between  them  :  Elsperger  raised  his 
stick  against  Steiner ;  some  persons  even  asserted 
that  he  struck  him  with  it;  whereupon  Steiner 
drew  a  pistol  from  his  pocket,  and  fired  at  the 
magistrate,  who  fell  to  the  earth.  The  murderer 
replaced  the  pistol  in  his  pocket  with  a  contemptu- 
ous air,  and  walked  slowly  past  the  astonished 
spectators  until  he  reached  the  corner  of  a  street, 
when,  after  once  looking  back  at  the  dead  body, 
he  ran  towards  his  own  house,  which  the  report  of 
his  crime  had  reached  befoi'e  him.  He  told  his 
apprentices  that  he  had  shot  the  magistrate  Elsper- 
ger, laid  down  the  piece  of  leather  in  the  shop,  and 
hastily  left  the  room,  in  order,  as  he  said,  to  give 
himself  up  to  justice.  Before,  however,  he  could 
leave  the  house,  he  was  seized  by  a  bricklayer,  and 
after  a  violent  but  ineffectual  struggle,  was  deliver- 
ed by  him  into  the  custody  of  two  police  sergeants. 
To  these  men  he  said,  "  I  have  accomplished  my 
purpose,  and  my  conscience  is  now  clear :  I  have 
long  pursued  him."     He  quietly  suffered  himself 


LUDWIG    STEINER.  319 

to  be  taken  to  the  police-office,  where  two  pistols 
were  found  in  his  pocket :  the  prisoner  himself 
warned  the  police  that  one  was  loaded,  "  lest  any 
one  should  be  hurt."  He  said  to  the  police  ser- 
geant Speiser,  who  handcuffed  and  conducted  him 
to  prison,  "  Elsperger  utterly  I'uhied  me;  he  made 
me  miserable ;  and  at  last  I  have  revenged  my 
^v^ongs  on  him." 

Steiner's  demeanor  was  that  of  a  man  who  had 
the  most  perfect  conviction  of  having  performed  a 
glorious  deed.  On  seeing  the  crowd  assembled 
before  the  window  of  his  prison,  he  changed  his 
position,  saying,  "  I  must  turn  about  in  order  that 
the  people  may  see  me ;  for  although  many  know 
me  by  name,  all  do  not  yet  know  me  by  sight." 

The  wounded  man,  who  had  instantly  fallen 
speechless  on  the  pavement,  was  carried  to  the 
nearest  police  station,  where  he  died  within  ten 
minutes  after  he  was  shot.  The  bullet  had  pene- 
trated the  brain,  so  that  there  could  be  no  doubt 
as  to  the  cause  of  his  death.  When  Steiner  was 
brought  into  the  presence  of  the  corpse,  he  showed 
not  the  slightest  emotion,  and  merely  observed, 
♦'  That  is  the  magisti'ate  Elsperger,  of  this  place." 
He  signed  the  papers  which  were  presented  to 
him  with  a  firm  hand,  and  in  his  first  examination 
confessed  that  he  had  done  the  deed. 

At  the  time  of  the  murder  Ludwig  Steiner  was 
fifty-three  years  of  age:  he  was  born  of  Catholic 
parents  at  Alpendorf,  in  the  province  of  Glatz,  in 
Silesia,  and  had  been  settled  for  many  years  as  a 
master  shoemaker  at  Ratisbon.  He  had  been 
twice  married,  but  had  no  children.  He  was  of 
the  middle  size,  thin,  pale,  and  of  a  nervous,  exci- 
table temperament.  His  fellow-citizens  described 
him  as  an  honorable  man,  a  peaceable  good  cit- 
izen, a  skillful  workman,  and  an  active  orderly 
tradesman,  who  contrived  to  make  a  good  living 


320  REMAKKABLE,  CRIMINAL    TRIALS. 

out  of  a  moderate  business,  and  still  employed  a 
few  apprentices,  notwithstanding  his  business  had 
lately  declined  owing  to  various  causes.  Even  as 
an  apprentice  he  despised  the  common  Sunday 
amusements  of  his  companions,  and  passed  his 
leisure  hours  in  reading :  he  set  great  value  on  his 
good  name,  and  had  a  very  strong  sense  of  honor 
and  justice. 

In  the  year  1817  the  shoemakers'  guild  of  Ratis- 
bon  was  split  into  rival  factions  on  occasion  of  the 
election  of  a  master.  Steiner  took  the  part  of  one 
whom  he  thought  unjustly  oppressed,  and  in  a 
quarrel  with  the  leader  of  the  opj^osite  party  so  far 
forgot  himself  in  his  zeal,  as  to  accuse  his  oppo- 
nent of  a  theft  in  the  pi-esence  of  the  whole  guild. 
An  action  for  defamation  was  brouofht  a"-ainst 
Steiner,  who  was  condemned  on  the  30th  of  Sep- 
tember, 1818,  to  make  an  apology  to  the  man  whom 
he  had  insulted,  to  twenty-four  hours'  imprison- 
ment, and  to  costs.  This  sentence,  against  which 
he  appealed,  was  confirmed  on  the  25th  of  Novem- 
ber of  the  same  yeai',  and  Elsperger  was  the  mag- 
isti'ate  who  had  to  pronounce  judgment,  and  to 
see  it  carried  into  execution.  INIeanwhile  Steiner 
was  fully  convinced  of  the  righteousness  of  his 
own  cause.  His  self-love  explained  a  sentence  so 
much  at  variance  with  his  own  convictions  and  so 
injui-ious  to  his  pride  by  the  supposition  that  the 
real  papers  on  which  the  judgment  should  have 
been  founded  must  have  been  suppressed,  and 
false  ones  substituted  for  them.  When,  therefore, 
the  judgment  confirming  the  first  sentence  was 
made  known  to  him  on  the  8th  of  December,  he 
announced  his  intention  of  appealing  to  the  cen- 
tral court  at  Munich.  Notwithstandino:  his  cairer 
representations,  the  magistrate  Elsperger  would 
not  allow  of  any  delay,  but  at  once  proceeded  to 
carry  the  judgment  into  execution.     Steiner  then 


LUDVVIG    STEINER.  321 

begged  for  permission  at  least  to  return  home  be- 
fore his  imprisonment,  that  he  might  set  his  house 
in  order,  and  cut  out  work  for  his  apprentices ;  but 
Elsperger,    with,   perhaps,    unnecessary    severity, 
denied  this  trifling  favor,  and  sent  him  at  once  to 
prison.     Steiner  came  out  of  prison  sick  in  body, 
and  still  more  disordered  in  mind  by  the  injury 
done  to  his  pride,  to  his  good  name,  and  to  what 
he  considered  his  just  rights.    He  maintained  then, 
and  afterwards,  that  he  had  undei'gone  excruciating- 
torments  from  the  pestiferous  smell  of  the  prison, 
and  the  overheating  of  a  stove.     This,   or   more 
likely  his  excitable  imagination,  tended  not  a  little 
to  confirm  his  belief  of  the  injustice  sustained  in 
his  person,  and  to  increase  his    bitter  animosity 
against  the  magistrate  whose  duty  it  had  been  to 
pass  judgment  upon  him.     But  the  worst  was  yet 
to  come  :  the  apology  was  still  due.     "  The  apo- 
logy which  I  had  to  make,"  said  Steiner,  "  hurt 
my   feelings   most    of  all.      I    had   to    apologise 
against  my  own  jjerfect  conviction,   whereas  no 
apology  was  due ;  for  I  had  seen  with  my  own 
eyes  the  master  shoemaker  do  the  very  things  of 
which  I  accused  him."     Elsperger  had  also  to  see 
this  part  of  the  sentence  earned  into  execution ; 
but  summonses,  admonitions,  and  fines  were  in- 
effectual for  some  months.     Steiner  undertook  a 
journey  to  Munich  in  order  to  obtain  a  revision  ot 
his  sentence,  at  any  rate  of  that  part  which  related 
to  the  apology :  he  came  back  to  Ratisbon  afi:er  a 
fruitless  journey,   but  still  obstinately  refused  to 
obey  the  orders  of  the  court.    At  length,  however, 
when  threatened  with  a  fine  of  six  reichs  thalers, 
he  was  induced  to  deliver  into  Elsperger's  hands 
an   apology  -\\Titten  by  his  attorney.     From  that 
time  forward  Elsperger  became  the  object  of  his 
deadly  hate,  and  he  determined  either  to  obtain 
complete  satisfaction  for  all  that  he  had  endured, 
21 


322  REMARKABLE    CRIMINAL    TRIALS. 

by  an  appeal  to  the  law,  or  to  murder  Elsperger 
in  revenge  for  the  unnecessary  luirshness  and  con- 
temptuous insolence  with  which,  as  Steiner  ima- 
gined, he  had  carried  an  unjust  sentence  into  ex- 
ecution. 

Henceforth  he  thought  of  nothing  but  his  cause. 
His  head  could  only  contain  the  idea  of  the  sen- 
tence, and  of  the  means  of  obtaining  a  reversal  of 
it,  compensation  for  his  losses,  and  satisfliction  for 
the  injustice  he  had  suftered.     These  thoughts,  on 
which  his  mind  was  constantly  brooding,  deprived 
him  of  all  j^eace  of  mind,  and  completely  altered 
his  nature.     He  had  no  rest  at  night,  and  by  day 
he   was    melancholy  and  silent,  unless  some  one 
touched,  however  remotely,  upon  the  subject  of 
his  lawsuit,  whereuj^on  he  immediately  broke  out 
into  a  long-winded  statement  of  the  whole  pro- 
ceeding, pouring   out   all  the   vials  of  his  wrath 
upon  Elsperger  and  the  wh(jle  bench  of  magis- 
trates,  calling  them   rogues,    thieves,    murderei-s, 
&c.,  accompanying  these  epithets  with  the  most 
violent  gestures,  now  looking  up  to  heaven,  noAv 
crying  or  laughing; — in  short,  behaving  like  a  mad- 
man.    His  friend  Rubin,  who  was  attached  to  him 
by  gi-atitude  for  numerous  benefits  he  had  received 
from  him,  at  length  ceased  to  come  near  him,  as  he 
could  no  longer  endure  to  hear  the  incessant  reci- 
tal of  his  imaginary  wrongs,  and  the  threats  and 
abuse  which  he  poured  forth  upon  the  magistracy. 
A  master  shoemaker  of  the  name  of  Magritzer,  his 
benefactor  and  friend  of  many  years'  standing,  in- 
curred his  hatred  by  refusing  to  give  evidence  in 
his  favor  in  the  law-suit.     From  this  time  Steiner, 
forgetful  of  the  kindness  he  had  received  from  him, 
treated  him  as  his  bitterest  enemy.      In  like  man- 
ner as  he   hated  the   whole  magistracy  for  Els- 
perger's  sake,  he  now  detested  the  whole  guild  of 
shoemakers  on  Magi-itzer's  account.     He  chose  to 


LUDVVIG    STEINER.  323 

imagine  that  every  master  shoemaker  was  his  foe, 
and  accordingly  behaved  to  them  with  marked 
coldness  or  rudeness,  and  even  passed  them  in  the 
street  without  greeting.  Every  one  who  attempt- 
ed to  make  him  hear  reason  about  his  suit  re- 
ceived the  same  treatment.  He  was  so  finnly 
convinced  of  the  justice  of  his  cause,  which  was  so 
closely  bound  up  with  his  honor,  nay,  with  his  very 
existence,  that  in  his  obstinate  conceit  he  looked 
upon  every  attempt  to  convince  his  judgment  as  a 
personal  injury. 

The  hatred  and  vencjefulness  which  were  work- 
ing  in  his  mind,  ever  since  the  unfortunate  termin- 
ation of  his  law-suit,  made  him  neglect  his  business  : 
he  sought  diversion  and  repose  in  reading  or  in 
drinking,  dissipated  his  property,  lost  many  of  his 
customers,  and  was  compelled  to  borrow  money. 
Although  he  had  only  himself  to  blame  for  these 
misfortunes,  he  looked  upon  them  as  entirely  the 
result  of  the  machinations  of  his  enemies,  more 
especially  of  the  accursed  Elsperger.  If  his  ap- 
prentices were  taken  up  for  any  offence  they  had 
committed,  he  attributed  it  not  to  any  fault  of  theirs, 
butto  the  enmity  of  the  magistrate  Elsperger  towards 
himself.  If  he  happened  to  meet  the  burgomas- 
ter, or  any  of  the  magistrates,  in  the  street,  he  ima- 
gined that  he  saw  contemptuous  sneers  or  sarcastic 
laughter  in  their  faces. 

In  March,  1819,  he  sent  a  petition  to  one  of  his 
relations  at  Munich,  requesting  him  to  present  it  to 
the  supreme  court.  His  relation  returned  it  to 
him,  saying  that  he  could  not  meddle  in  any  such 
matters.  In  May,  1820,  he  himself  undertook  the 
journey  to  Munich,  and  laid  before  the  pri%'y  coun- 
cil a  statement  of  his  ginevances.  He  returned  to 
Ratisbon  full  of  hope  and  joy,  fully  persuaded  that 
if  thex'e  were  any  justice  on  earth,  the  privy  coun- 
cil would  decide  in  his  favor.    He  expected  nothing 


324  REMARKABLE    CRIMINAL    TRIALS. 

less  than  that  the  magistrates  of  Ratisbon  would  be 
compelled  to  give  him  full  compensation  for  his 
losses,  and  to  make  him  an  ample  and  public  apol- 
ogy. Soon  after  his  return  from  Munich,  he  said 
to  his  friend  Rubin,  whom  he  met  in  the  street,  "  My 
suit  must  soon  take  quite  a  different  turn,  or  else 
you  will  hear  of  my  doing  something  that  will  make 
the  whole  world  stare."  Rubin  could  not  doubt 
what  he  meant  by  this  expression,  as  Steiner  had 
said  to  him  some  months  before,  while  abusing  the 
magistrates,  "  If  the  sentence  against  me  be  not 
reversed,  my  enemy"  (meaning  Elsperger)  "must 
die;  for  whoever  robs  me  of  my  honor,  and  of  my 
property,  shall  not  live." 

As  might  have  been  anticipated,  Steiner's  peti- 
tion to  the  privy  council  was  rejected  on  the  8th  of 
September,  1820.     His  hatred  against  the  magis- 
tracy, and  especially  Elsperger,  was  now  turned 
into  rage.     In  the  refusal  of  the  privy  council  he 
saw  a  fresh  proof  of  systematic  persecution,  op- 
pression, and  insolence  on  the  part  of  the  magis- 
tracy towards  himself.     His  diseased  vanity  made 
him    imagine    that    the    whole    magistracy    were 
leagued  together  for  his  destruction.     He  believed, 
or  affected  to  believe,  that  they  meant  to  seize  his 
person,  to  confine  him  in  a  madhouse,  and  thus  to 
get  rid  of  his  claim  upon  them  for  satisfaction  and 
compensation  for  his  losses.     He  said  to  his  ap- 
prentice Bezold,  that  he  saw  by  the  answer  he  had 
received  that  all  protection  was  I'efused  him,  that 
he  was  as  good  as  outlawed,  and  that  as  any  one 
might  shoot  or  stab  him,  he  must  carry  some  weap- 
on for  his  own  defence.     Thenceforward  he  always 
went  armed  with  a  brace  of  loaded  pistols,  for  the 
double  purpose  of  protecting  himself  fi'om  any  at- 
tack, and  of  shooting  Elsperger.     For  months  these 
pistols  were  his  constant  companions,  and  he  made 
no  secret  of  it.     He  occasionally  fired  them  off  in 


LUDVVIG    STEINER.  325 

the  presence  of  his  apprentices,  for  the  sake  of 
practice,  at  some  mark  in  the  fields.  It  was  well- 
known  in  the  taverns  which  Steiner  frequented  that 
he  carried  loaded  pistols,  and  many  persons  avoid- 
ed his  company  on  that  account.  About  fourteen 
days  before  the  murder,  he  related  his  story  to  the 
master  tailor  Heimbrand,  and,  taking  a  pistol  out 
of  his  coat  pocket,  he  said,  "  If  my  law-suit  does 
not  turn  out  to  my  mind,  I  will  shoot  some  one." 
He  had  frequently  uttei'cd  the  same  threats  to  his 
apprentice  Keitel,  and  to  a  shoemaker  of  the  name 
of  Scheidel,  some  seven  or  eisfht  weeks  before  the 
murder.     At  the  time  when  Sand  was  executed 

for  killing  Kotzebue,  he  said  to  Dr.  H ,  who 

had  been  his  medical  attendant  for  years,  "  I  have 
lost  my  honor  and  part  of  my  property  by  this  law- 
suit :  1  have  nothing  more  to  lose,  and  will  now 
die  like  Sand." 

The  magistrates,  more  especially  Elsperger, 
were  informed  of  the  threats  uttered  by  Steiner ; 
but  no  notice  was  taken  of  him,  as  they  ima- 
gined that  the  very  publicity  of  his  menaces  af- 
forded security  against  his  can-ying  them  into 
execution, 

A  few  months  before  the  murder  Steiner  was 
summoned  to  appear  before  the  magistrates  for  non- 
payment of  the  rent  of  his  shop.  The  creditor 
happened  also  to  be  a  magistrate.  Steiner  obsti- 
nately refused  to  appear,  giving  as  his  reason  that 
this  was  a  mere  pretext  for  delivering  him  into  the 
power  of  his  enemies.  The  magistrate,  his  creditor, 
who  learnt  from  the  physician  in  what  an  excited 
state  Steiner  then  was,  behaved  towards  him  with 
the  greatest  consideration,  and  requested  the  phys- 
ician to  persuade  him  to  lend  a  willing  obedience 
to  the  commands  of  the  court.  This  the  physician 
attempted  to  do  with  the  assistance  of  Steiner's 
wife,  but  with  no  success.     Steiner  now  imagined 

E  E 


32G  IIEMAUK.ABLE    URIMINAI.    TRIAJ.S. 

that  the  physician  and  his  own  wife  had  joined  in 
the  general  conspiracy  against  him :  he  therefore 
turned  his  wife  out  of  his  house  as  his  bitterest 
enemy.  From  that  time  forward  she  lived  sepa- 
rate from  him ;  and  Steiner  without  a  wife  and 
without  friends,  all  of  whom  he  had  ere  now  alien- 
ated from  himself,  lived  alone  in  the  woi'ld,  which, 
in  his  belief,  had  not  only  deprived  him  of  all 
happiness,  but  had  even  conspix'ed  to  destroy  the 
miserable  existence  which  was  all  it  had  left  to 
him. 

On  the  unlucky  26th  of  June,  he  appeared  unu- 
sually disturbed  and  melancholy.  Elizabeth  Fi- 
scher, his  maid-servant,  saw  him  sitting  at  work 
cutting  out  a  pair  of  boots,  and  heard  him  say  to 
himself,  with  tears  in  his  eyes,  "  They  have  made 
me  so  poor  that  I  have  not  enough  leather  to  make 
a  pair  of  boots,  or  money  to  ])ay  for  some."  This 
was  literally  true,  and  he  was  forced  to  procure 
some  leather  on  credit.  At  about  three  p.  m.  he 
went  to  the  leather-seller  at  Stadtamhof,  to  whom 
he  already  owed  a  good  deal,  as  usual  with  his 
pistols  in  his  pocket.  Two  of  his  acquaintance 
met  him  on  the  bridge  across  the  Danube :  he 
passed  them  without  greeting,  and  staled  so  wildly 
that  one  of  them  said  to  the  other,  "  Look  !  there 
goes  that  wronghead,  that  madman,  Steiner."  He 
returned  home  with  the  boiTowed  leather  under 
his  arm,  filled  with  anger  and  grief  at  the  thoughts 
of  his  reduced  fortunes,  and  furious  against  the 
supposed  authors  of  his  humiliation,  above  all, 
against  his  arch  enemy  Elsperger,  whom  he  pic- 
tured to  himself  as  rejoicing  in  his  disgrace  and 
misfortunes.  The  resolution  which  he  had  long 
cherished  but  had  not  yet  dared  to  execute,  now 
became  stronger  than  ever.  He  longed  to  meet 
Elsperger :  and  if  he  should  meet  him  he  deter- 
mined to  speak  to  him,  and,  unless  he  obtained  a 


LUDVVIG    STEINEH.  327 

satisfactory  answer,  to  shoot  him.  Brooding  over 
these  feehngs  and  resolves,  Steiner  reached  the 
market-place,  when  his  evil  destiny  threw  Elsper- 
ger  in  his  way.  "  Mr.  Magistrate,"  said  Steiner, 
according  to  his  own  confession,  "  Mr.  Magistrate, 
shall  I  have  much  lonc^er  to  wait  before  1  receive 

O  

compensation  for  my  losses  V  Elsperger  replied, 
"  VVliat  do  you  want  ]  Go  away,  you  foolish  fol- 
low." "What  do  I  want  1"  answered  Steiner; 
"  I  am  no  longer  able  to  support  myself"  Elsper- 
ger then  raised  his  stick  and  said,  "  Get  along,  yoii 
fellow  !"  Steiner  now  drew  out  his  pistol,  pointed 
it  at  Elsperger,  and  attempted,  but  in  vain,  to  pull 
the  triggei-,  while  Elsperger  warded  off  the  jjistol 
with  his  stick.  Meanwhile  Steiner  returned  the 
useless  weapon  to  his  pocket,  and  quickly  drew 
out  the  second  pistol,  wliich  he  instantly  dis- 
charged, exclaiming,  according  to  the  testimony  of 
a  bystander,  "  Wait,  you  villain  !" — and  the  deed 
was  done. 

In  the  fullness  of  his  joy  at  the  death  of  his 
mortal  foe,  and  in  the  first  triumph  of  gratified  re- 
venge, Steiner  boasted  of  his  long-cherished  inten- 
tions of  murder.  But  before  the  court  he  carefully 
recalled  all  expressions  of  the  kind,  and  endeav- 
ored for  some  time,  with  great  prudence  and  skill, 
so  to  describe  the  circumstances  attending:  his 
crime  as  to  take  from  it  all  appearance  of  premed- 
itation. He  did  not  deny  that  he  bore  a  deep 
hatred  against  Elsperger  on  account  of  the  unfor- 
tunate turn  of  his  law-suit,  and  the  harshness  with 
which  he  had  been  treated,  more  especially  with 
regard  to  his  hasty  committal  to  prison,  the  heat 
and  stench  of  which,  he  said,  had  nearly  killed 
him.  But  during  sevei'al  examinations  he  denied 
that  he  carried  pistols  about  him  with  any  particu- 
lar reference  to  Elsperger ;  he  wore  them,  he  said, 
as  a  protection  against  any  illegal  violence  whicl- 


328  RKMARKABLE    CRIMINAL    TRIALS 

might  be  offered  to  his  own  person  ever  since  there 
had  been  a  conspiracy  among  the  magistrates 
atjainst  him.  At  his  first  examination  he  described 
the  fatal  occurrence  which  happened  in  the  market- 
place as  the  result  of  sudden  and  violent  anger, 
and  denied  that  he  even  at  the  moment  wished  to 
inflict  death.  Elsperger's  insulting  language,  and 
the  blow  which  he  aimed  at  him  with  his  stick  in 
the  public  streets,  were  so  iri'itating  as  to  cause 
him  to  seize  first  one  pistol,  and  then  the  other, 
and  to  shoot  the  man  who  had  insulted  him.  "  It 
was  not  my  intention  to  kill,  but  only  to  wound 
him,"  continued  Steiner;  "I  did  not  expect  it  to 
end  so  fatally."  At  his  second  examination  he 
stated  that  he  did  not  even  intend  to  wound  him. 
"  I  presented  the  second  pistol  to  prevent  him  from 
attacking  me  ;  it  suddenly  went  off,  I  know  not 
whether  I  pulled  the  tiigger  or  not."  At  his  third 
examination  he  said,  "  When  Elsperger  reviled 
me,  I  took  the  pistol  out  of  my  pocket.  When  he 
saw  it  in  my  hand,  he  raised  the  stick  and  struck 
at  the  hand  which  held  the  pistol,  till  his  stick  split. 
He  then  looked  at  his  stick.  In  the  mean  time  I 
returned  the  one  pistol  to  my  pocket,  pulled  out 
the  other,  and  cocked  it,  that  I  might  be  able  to 
defend  myself  should  Elsperger  again  attack  me. 
My  hand  must  have  trembled  as  I  held  the  pistol 
and  made  it  go  off — I  had  no  intention  of  firing." 
He  afterwards  returned  to  his  first  statement.  "  I 
took  aim  only  at  Elsperger's  leg.  I  had  no  inten- 
tion to  kill,  but  only  to  wound  him,  and  cannot 
conceive  how  I  chanced  to  hit  him  in  the  head ; 
I  can  only  account  for  it  by  supposing  that  I  must 
have  trembled  fearfully."  When  charged  with 
having  uttered  threats  of  murder  befoi'e  several 
witnesses,  he  confidently  answered  that  these  ac- 
cusations were  impudent  lies  ;  that  such  assertions 
were  really  laughable.     "  It  is  perfectly  true  that 


LUDWIG    STEINER.  i{29 

I  have  at  times  been  angry  with  the  authors  of  my 
misfortunes  ; — who  would  not?  But  I  never  thought 
of  committing  murder.  It  is  a  sheer  invention  that 
I  ever  said  I  would  shoot  such  a  one,  or  do  some- 
thing to  make  the  whole  world  stare  :  people  often 
talk  among  each  other,  and  end  by  really  believing 
some  talc  which  they  have  invented  themselves.  I 
cannot  think  what  folks  would  have  ;  the  thought 
of  shooting  a  man  dead  never  entered  my  head,  so 
help  me  God."  In  the  fourth  examination,  he  was 
reminded  that  he  had  once  said  to  his  friend  Rubin, 
"  Some  one  must  die  if  my  law-suit  does  not  take 
a  more  favorable  turn."  He  clasped  his  hands, 
and  looked  towards  heaven,  exclaiming,  "  Merci- 
ful God !  I  know  not  whether  I  said  so  to  Rubin 
or  not.  I  cannot  be  certain  oneway  or  the  other." 
When  reminded  that  he  had  once  told  Rubin  that 
if  he  lost  his  cause  he  would  do  something  to  make 
the  world  stare,  he  replied,  "  Blessed  Lord  !  can 
folks  talk  of  nothing  but  making  the  world  stare  1 
It  is  possible  that  I  may  have  uttered  complaints 
before  Rubin :  I  may  have  said  that  I  should  be 
ruined  by  my  suit,  and  have  no  compensation 
awarded  me  ;  that  it  was  galling  to  me  to  be  no 
longer  able  to  earn  my  livelihood,  and  pay  ready 
money  for  the  ai'ticles  required  for  my  business. 
When  a  man  is  forced  to  be  bankrupt,  that  is  what 
I  call  making  the  world  stare.  The  other  shoe- 
makers were  envious  of  me,  because  fo7-merly  I 
could  always  pay  ready  money."  He  could  not 
help,  however,  confessing,  in  answer  to  repeated 
questions,  that  he  had  frequently  expressed  him- 
self to  several  persons  to  the  following  effect : 
That  he  carried  the  pistols  about  with  him  in  order 
to  shoot  some  one  if  he  lost  his  suit ;  but  that  he 
would  not  shed  blood  except  at  the  last  extremity. 
The  judge  exhorted  him  to  say,  distinctly,  whom 
he  had  then  alluded  to.     He  answered,  "I  must 

EE  2 


330  REMARKABLE    CRIMINAL    TRIALS. 

confess  that  it  was  none  other  than  the  magistrate 
Elsperger,  whom  I  conceived  to  be  the  chief  cause 
of  my  misfortunes."  He  then  recommenced  the 
detail  of  his  griefs  :  "  At  length,"  he  continued,  "I 
met  Elsperger  on  the  day  of  the  murder.  I  spoke 
to  him  and  he  answered  me  with  insults  ;  I  lost  all 
power  over  myself;  my  blood  boiled,  and  the  deed 
was  done."  This  answer  was  almost  a  confession 
of  intentional  murder. 

At  length  in  his  fifth  examination  he  plainly  de- 
clared that  he  had  long-^  been  determined  to  shoot 
Elsperger  out  of  revenge.  This  admission  he 
afterwards  qualified  by  saying  that  on  the  26th  of 
June  he  had,  in  a  sudden  fit  of  just  indignation, 
shot  his  bitter  foe,  not  only  without  any  previous 
plot,  but  in  spite  of  his  determination  to  the  con- 
trary. "  It  was.  certainly  my  intention,  if  I  could 
not  obtain  legal  redress,  to  kill  him  ;  but  I  intended 
first  to  go  once  more  to  Munich.  Had  not  El- 
sperger insulted  and  struck  me  publicly  on  the 
26th  of  June,  I  should  not  have  fired  at  him,  be- 
cause I  fully  expected  to  obtain  justice  at  Munich. 
I  will  not,  however,  deny  that  I  had  made  up  my 
mind  to  shoot  him  if  I  did  not  obtain  justice." 

With  these  insjenious  excuses  and  half  confes- 
sions  he  managed  to  baffle  the  judge  for  months, 
until  at  length,  after  a  fresh  judge  had  been  ap- 
pointed to  investigate  the  case,  he  made  theibllow- 
ing  confession  in  the  seventh  and  two  subsequent 
examinations : — 

"  The  cause  of  my  deed  was  the  sentence  which 
Elsperger  pronounced  and  executed  against  me. 
The  judgment  was  unjust,  as  other  papers  were 
fraudulently  inserted  in  lieu  of  the  original  docu- 
ments; in  consequence  of  which  the  sentence,  not- 
withstanding all  my  representations,  was  passed 
and  cari'ied  into  effect.  By  this  sentence,  I  lost 
honor  and  property,  whereupon  I  swore  to  kill  El 


LUDWIG    STBINEU.  331 

spergor  unless  I  could  obtain  justice.  I  did  not 
make  this  determination  while  I  was  in  prison,  nor 
indeed  until  Elsperger  summoned  me  to  make  the 
apology  within  three  days,  under  pain  of  fine  and 
imprisonment.  I  went  to  the  advocate  Eggelkraut, 
who  entreated  me  to  carry  my  apology  to  the  mag- 
istrate. I  did  so  ;  and  this  was  the  cause  of  my 
hatred  towards  Elsperger,  and  of  my  determination 
to  kill  him,  so  that  he  might  not  rejoice  and  exult 
in  my  misfortunes.  I  resolved  to  shoot  Elsperger 
wherever  I  might  meet  him,  in  the  event  of  my  not 
obtaining  justice  from  the  crown. 

"First,  however,  I  endeavored  to  get  justice 
done  me  by  legal  means;  bloodshed  was  my  last 
resource.  From  my  youth  up  I  could  never  find 
it  in  me  to  injure  any  one.  When  a  boy,  I  was 
grieved  when  a  bird  which  I  had  hit  lay  dead  be- 
fore me.  As  soon  as  my  arrest  was  at  an  end,  I 
went  to  Munich,  but  returned  without  success.  In 
1820  I  again  went  to  Munich,  fully  resolved  to  kill 
Elsperger  if  I  again  failed  in  my  object,  as  I  could 
no  longer  bear  his  tyranny.  On  the  4th  of  June, 
1820,  when  I  returned  from  Munich,  I  heard  that 
my  suit  was  prospering,  but  could  learn  nothing 
certain.  I  then  went  to  the  burgomaster."  He 
repeated  a  long  conversation  with  him,  which  we 
need  not  insert.  "  I  afterwards  went  to  the  police- 
office,  where  the  registrar  told  me  that  no  answer 
had  come,  and  that  I  must  write  again  about  it :  a 
week  later  came  the  refusal. 

"I  related  all  this  and  my  opinion  on  the  matter 
to  various  people  whom  I  thought  my  fi-iends,  in 
order  to  excite  their  sympathy  :  and  then  began 
the  conspiracy  against  me.  They  wanted  to  drive 
me  mad,  and  then  to  shut  me  up  in  a  madhouse. 
It  is  easy  enough,  if  many  conspire  togethei',  to 
declare  a  man  to  be  mad.  They  say  to  each  other, 
*  See  !  see !  bow  he  mixes  up  one  thing  with  an- 


332  REMAKKABLE    CRIMINAL    TRIALS. 

Other,  and  what  nonsense  he  talks!'     Every  one 
asked  me  about  my  law-suit,  and  I  told  it  to  them 
all,  in  detail ;  and  then  they  gossipped  about  me 
and  called  me  a  madman,  and  yet  1  was  no  more 

mad  than  I  am  now.     Even   Dr.  H helped 

them  to  drive  me  mad,  and  threatened,  if  I  would 
not  give  way,  to  say  that  I  was  a  madman,  if  his 

opinion  were  asked.     The  magistrate  H ,  too, 

said  publicly  that  my  excellent  wife  ought  to  be 
protected. 

"  Ever  since  the  conspiracy  against  me  began  I 
have  carried  pistols,  not  quite  every  day,  but  usu- 
ally, so  as  to  have  some  means  of  defence  in  case 
of  my  being  attacked,  and  also  in  order  to  use  them 
against  Elsperger. 

"  The  rent  which  I  owed  to  F was  made  a 

ne\y  subject  of  persecution  to  bring  me  before  the 
poHce.  Had  I  gone  to  the  office,  some  harsh  ex- 
pressions on  my  part  ^vould  have  afforded  a  suffi- 
cient pretext  to  the  police  to  lay  hold  of  me  and 
shut  me  up  as  a  madman.  For  this  reason  I  did 
not  go,  but  lived  in  constant  dread  of  arrest,  and 
of  being  dragged  out  of  my  own  house  and  thrown 
into  prison. 

"  I  still  hoped  to  obtain  justice  against  Elsper- 
ger from  higher  quarters.  But  when  all  means 
had  failed,  and  my  money  was  exhausted,  so  that  I 
could  neither  write  another  petition  nor  go  to 
Munich — when  even  my  wife  turned  against  me, 
and  I  was  compelled  to  put  her  away,  and  was  left 
alone  in  the  world — then  it  was  that,  should  1 
meet  Elsperger,  who  had  used  me  so  ill,  and 
spoken  to  me  so  harshly,  I  determined  to  shoot 
him — and  succeeded. 

"  During  the  whole  day  I  had  been  sorrowful, 
because  I  was  forced  to  provide  myself  with 
leather,  and  had  no  money  wherewithal  to  buy  it. 
In  the  afternoon  I   went  to   Stadtamhof  to  fetch 


LUDWIG  STEINER.  333 

some  leather,  and  put  the  loaded  pistols  in  my 
pocket,  in  case  of  being  attacked  or  of  meeting 
Elsperger.  I  was  much  excited,  as  I  knew  not  what 
would  become  of  me  :  I  could  not  beg,  and  was 
unable  to  earn  my  bread  as  a  day-laborer.  I  thought 
within  myself,  '  If  I  see  him  I  will  speak  to  him, 
and  shoot  him  dead  if  he  refuses  to  help  me.'  I 
was  desperate.  I  had  taken  a  piece  of  leather  on 
credit  from  the  leather-merchant.  It  gi'ieved  me 
to  remain  in  his  debt  for  the  leather,  but  I  could 
not  pay  him,  for  I  wanted  even  a  little  money  for 
the  maid  who  cooked  my  daily  food.  That  I,  who 
had  been  a  man  of  property,  should  be  so  reduced 
as  to  owe  more  than  I  could  pay,  enraged  me.  In 
this  frame  of  mind  I  returned  to  Ratisbon,  on  my 
way  to  my  own  house." 

He  then  related  how  he  unexpectedly  met  his 
enemy  in  the  market-place,  and  on  addressing 
him  received  a  harsh  rej^ly,  whereupon  he  shot 
him.  When  asked  why  he  had  addressed  El- 
sperger in  the  public  street,  he  replied,  "  I  would 
have  sjjoken  to  him  about  my  business  wherever  I 
might  have  happened  to  meet  him,  have  told  him 
my  condition,  and  have  shot  him  on  his  refusing  to 
satisfy  me.  I  had  nothing  left  to  live  on,  and  was 
determined  that  he  should  not  live  to  exult  over 
my  misfortunes.  I  thought  to  myself  I  will  shoot 
him,  as  he  will  neither  give  me  compensation  nor 
restore  my  lost  honor  ;  at  any  rate,  he  shall  not  re- 
joice at  my  misfortunes. 

"  I  well  know  that  it  is  unlawful  to  kill  a  man : 
I  am  as  fond  of  life  as  other  men  ;  but  I  would 
rather  die  than  submit  to  such  oppression  as  I 
have  endured  from  the  magistrate  Elsperger.  Had 
any  one  four  years  ago  foretold  to  me  that  I  should 
have  done  such  a  deed,  I  should  have  laughed  in 
his  face,  for  murder  is  hateful  to  me,  and  I  well 
know  that  it  is  the  worst  thing  that  a  man  can  do." 


334  REMARKABLE    CRIMINAL    TRIALS. 

Tins  short  account  of  one  of  his  examinations 
sufficiently  shows  the  coolness,  dexterity,  and  cun- 
ning with  which  Steiner  evaded  making  a  full  and 
true  confession.  He  distinctly  saw  what  was  dan- 
gerous, and  either  denied  all  suspicious  circum- 
stances, or  adroitly  gave  them  such  a  turn  as  would 
make  his  crime  appear  to  be  no  more  than  man- 
slaughter. He  well  knew  that  he  had  committed 
murder,  and  what  would  be  the  consequence  if 
his  crime  were  proved.  We  see  in  his  confession 
a  disturbed  and  excited  imagination,  but  we  also 
perceive  the  existence  of  a  clear  sound  understand- 
ing, perfectly  conscious  of  what  he  had  done,  and 
of  his  motives  for  doing  it :  he  analysed  the  thoughts, 
feelings,  and  passions  which  had  first  excited  his 
desire  for  vengeance ;  and  he  so  accurately  de- 
scribed their  origin  and  progress  until  the  fatal 
murder,  that  if  Steiner  was  mad,  it  is  impossible 
to  say  who  is  sane.  If  a  madman  can  act  with  so 
much  disci-etion,  who  is  to  point  out  the  difference 
between  a  man  of  sound  and  one  of  unsound  mind  1 
There  can  be  no  doubt  that  Steiner  had  for  several 
years  brooded  over  his  imaginary  wrongs,  that  he 
had  long  made  up  his  mind  to  murder  his  oppressor, 
and  that  he  went  armed  with  loaded  pistols  for  the 
purpose. 

There  can  be  no  legal  doubt  that  Steiner  was 
guilty,  and  that  he  fully  deserved  death.  But 
since  physicians  have  exercised  their  ingeiuiity  in 
endeavoring  to  prove  criminals  insane,  there  is 
scarce  any  one — be  his  guilt  as  clear  as  the  noon- 
day— to  whose  assistance  the  physicians  do  not 
bring  a  storo  of  mental  ailments ;  and  such  assist- 
ance was  not  wanting  to  the  litigious  and  revenge- 
ful, though  honest  Steiner. 

Steiner's  family  physician.  Doctor  H ,  who 

was  examined  as  a  witness,  could  not  assign  to  his 
patient  any  particular  infirmity  of  mind  :  he  con' 


LUDWIG    STEINER.  335 

fined  himself  within  the  proper  limits.  "  Steiner," 
he  said,  "  was  of  an  excitable,  nervous  tempera- 
ment :  of  late  I  seldom  visited  him  ;  but  when  I  did 
see  him,  I  remarked  that  his  mind  was  occupied 
with  but  one  idea — his  unfortunate  law-suit.  He 
narrated  the  whole  case  to  me,  and  I  endeavored 
to  bring  him  to  a  better  frame  of  mind,  but  entirely 
lost  his  confidence.  I  always  believed  him  to  be  a 
raian  of  plain  good  sense :  but  after  his  law-suit, 
malice  and  revenge  took  such  complete  possession 
of  his  mind  that  he  lost  all  control  over  himself. 
I  will  also  add  that  his  is  a  case  in  which  violent 
excitement  might  possibly  end  in  momentary  mad- 
ness." 

What  Steiner's  medical  attendant  suggested  as 
a  possible  explanation,  the  physician  employed  by 
the  legal  authorities  asserted  as  a  positive  fact.  In 
a  long  written  statement  which  he  presented  to  the 
court  on  the  25th  of  October,  1821,  he  stated  that 
Steiner  had  been  suffering  from  partial  madness 
and  melancholy  ever  since  his  imprisonment.  He 
concluded  that  on  every  point,  save  his  unfortunate 
law-suit,  Steiner's  intellect  was  sound ;  but  on  this 
subject  his  ideas  were  so  distorted,  his  language 
so  exaggerated,  and  his  actions  so  eccenti"ic,  that 
Steiner  was,  in  his  opinion,  a  madman,  who  could 
not  properly  be  held  responsible  for  the  crime  of 
murder. 

According  to  this  theory,  the  number  of  those 
who  are  iiTesponsible  for  their  actions  is  enoiTnous  : 
there  are  few  men  who  have  not  some  particular 
crotchet,  some  ruling  idea,  ludicrous  or  melan- 
choly, which  they  carry  with  them  to  the  grave. 
Fortunately,  however,  for  society,  neither  law  nor 
public  opinion  affords  indulgence  and  impunity  to 
all  who  are  led  by  their  erroneous  impressions  to 
overstep  the  limits  at  which  self-conti'ol  ends  and 
madness  begins. 


336  REMARKABLE    CRIMINAL    TRIALS. 

All  that  the  physician  adduced  as  evidence  of 
Steiner's  madness  merely  proved  that  he  had  for 
years  suffered  his  mind  to  be  completely  swayed 
by  impulse  and  passion.  Inasmuch  as  violent 
emotions  tend  to  disturb  the  balance  of  the  mind, 
and  to  endanger  the  authority  which  should  be  ex- 
ercised by  the  reason  over  the  passions,  they  may 
indeed  be  looked  upon  as  diseases,  but  these  moral 
diseases  are  beyond  the  power  of  medicine.  For 
them, — when  the  restraints  of  reason,  religion,  and 
morality,  and  even  the  fear  of  transgressing  the 
laws,  have  been  ineffectual, — the  proper  cures  are 
the  prison,  and  finally  the  scaffold. 

Steiner's  ruling  passion  was  a  stubborn  adhe- 
rence to  his  own  opinion — a  passion  which  had  its 
oiigin  in  his  overweening  self-esteem — and  which 
caused  him  to  persevere  to  the  utmost  in  his  en- 
deavors to  obtain  his  imaginary  rights.  There  is 
a  large  class  of  men  who,  like  Steiner,  are  so  fully 
convinced  of  the  justice  of  their  cause,  and  so  de- 
termined to  have  what  they  call  their  rights,  that 
they  cannot  rest  until  these  fancied  rights  are 
obtained.  They  cannot  conceive  that  anything  can 
be  otherwise  than  as  they  believe  it  to  be,  and  as 
they  imagine  the  justice  of  their  claims  to  be  as 
evident  to  others  as  it  is  to  themselves,  they  look 
upon  all  that  is  said  or  done  contrary  to  their  own 
conviction  as  an  intentional  and  manifest  injustice. 
If  their  sentence  be  adverse,  they  attribute  it  to 
the  hati-ed  or  partiality  of  the  judge,  or  to  the 
bribery  of  the  opposite  party  :  they  are  persuaded 
that  the  witnesses  have  been  tampered  with,  and 
that  their  case  has  been  most  unfairly  tried,  as 
they  must  otherwise  infallibly  have  gained  their 
suit.  They  consider  every  one  concerned,  fi-ora 
the  judge  to  the  crier  of  the  court,  as  their  personal 
foes,  and  their  anger  vents  itself,  according  to  their 
several  dispositions,  in  scornful  and  intemperate 


LUDWIG    STEINER.  337 

language,  or  sometimes,  as  in  the  present  instance, 
in  desperate  deeds. 

It  was  perfectly  natural  that  Steiner  should 
visit  upon  Elsperger  the  whole  weight  of  his  anger : 
Elsperger  had  refused  to  wait  while  Steiner  could 
appeal  to  a  superior  court,  from  which  he  confi- 
dently expected  a  revision  of  the  sentence  against 
him,  and  he  therefore  considered  this  magistrate 
as  the  real  cause  of  his  imprisonment,  which  he 
looked  upon  as  unjust.  The  loss  of  his  law-suit, 
and  the  stain  which  he  imagined  to  rest  upon  his 
character — all  the  misfortunes  which  subsequently 
befel  him  were  laid  to  Elsperger's  charge.  The 
more  he  thought  over  the  loss  of  his  suit,  the  more 
convinced  was  he  of  Elsperger's  injustice  and  op- 
pression, and  the  more  intense  grew  his  hatred 
and  his  desire  for  revenge. 

Steiner  had  always  expected  ultimately  to  obtain 
a  favorable  decision,  and  to  receive  some  repara- 
tion from  the  whole  magistracy  ;  nothing  short  of 
this  could  satisfy  his  obstinate  self-will,  his  wounded 
pride,  and  the  hatred  he  felt  towards  the  whole 
body  of  magistrates. 

The  court  of  appeal  to  which  Steiner's  case  was 
sent,  again  referred  it  to  several  medical  colleges, 
according  to  the  opinion  of  which  learned  bodies, 
given  on  the  22d  of  January,  1822,  Steiner  "  was 
in  a  state  of  melancholy  madness,  and  therefore  not 
responsible  for  his  actions,  when  he  planned  and 
committed  the  murder." 

According  to  this  opinion,  all  crimes  arising  out 
of  passion,  that  is  to  say,  about  seven-eighths  of  those 
that  are  committed,  must  be  altogether  withdrawn 
from  legal  jurisdiction,  and  referred  to  the  medi- 
cal faculty,  unless,  indeed,  the  passions  can  be 
schooled  into  a  behavior  as  cool,  measured,  and  ra- 
tional as  if  they  were  no  passions  at  all. 

The  central  college  of  medicine  contradicted  the 
22  F  F 


338  REMARKABLE    CRIMINAL    TRIALS. 

opinions  of  the  physician  attached  to  the  court,  and 
of  the  district  college  of  medicine,  and  gave  the 
following  ojjinion ; — 

"  That  at  the  time  of  the  murder  committed  on 
Elsperger,  Steiner  was  not  affected  either  by  mon- 
omania or  by  melancholy  madness,  to  such  a  de- 
gree as  to  render  him  unaccountable  for  his  actions, 
as  stated  by  Dr.  N ,  and  confirmed  by  the  col- 
lege of  medicine." 

By  this  opinion  it  was  determined  that  Steiner 
was  free  from  mental  disease  ;  the  medical  college 
properly  had  nothing  further  to  say  in  the  mat- 
ter, and  Steiner's  conduct  had  now  to  be  judged 
by  the  legal  authorities  ;  nevertheless,  the  medical 
board  continued  as  follows:  —  "That  although 
Steiner  was  by  no  means  insane  when  he  commit- 
ted the  murder,  or  utterly  unaccountable  for  his 
actions,  his  mind  was  so  much  troubled  and  affect- 
ed, that  his  freedom  of  action  was  impaired  or  lim- 
ited, in  consideration  of  which  his  sentence  ought 
unquestionably  to  be  mitigated." 

A  medical  opinion  exceeds  its  proper  functions, 
by  making  use  of  the  expression  that  a  criminal  is 
responsible  or  not  responsible  for  his  actions,  as 
that  is  a  question  for  legal  decision,  and  does  not 
come  within  the  competence  of  a  physician ;  still 
less  can  it  fall  within  the  province  of  medicine  to 
prescribe  to  the  judge  where  he  is  to  seek  for  ex- 
tenuating circumstances.  Furthermore,  if  once 
this  doctrine  of  a  limited  freedom  of  action  be  ad- 
mitted, there  is  no  saying  where  it  is  to  stop,  and 
under  what  circumstances  a  man  is  to  be  considered 
wholly  accountable  for  his  actions,  and  under  what 
others  he  has  only  a  half,  a  third,  or  a  fourth  share 
of  responsibility.  As  far  as  human  experience 
reaches,  every  crime  that  has  been  committed  was 
not  only  an  immoral  and  illegal,  but  also  an  unwise 
action.     And  in  by  far  the  greater  number,  the 


LUDWIG    STEINER.  339 

very  passions  by  which  the  fi-eedom  of  action  has 
been  Hmited  and  impaired,  can  be  distinctly  traced 
in  their  origin,  gi'owth,  and  final  eftects ;  notwith- 
standing which,  most  great  offenders  have  very 
properly  been  executed. 

The  three  medical  opinions  failed  to  convince 
the  court  of  appeal,  which,  on  the  9th  of  July, 
1822,  pronounced  Steiner  guilty  of  the  murder  of 
the  magistrate  Elsperger  of  Ratisbon,  and  sentenced 
him  to  death  by  the  sword. 

The  advocate  charged  with  Steiner's  defence 
deteiTnined  to  carry  his  case  before  a  second  couit 
of  appeal,  and  after  a  second  reference  to  physi- 
cians, and  a  more  detailed  defence,  the  papers 
were  sent  to  the  second  court  of  appeal,  which, 
on  the  31st  of  August,  1824,  pronounced  Ludwig 
Steiner  guilty  of  murder,  and  sentenced  him  to 
imprisonment  for  life. 


THE    END. 


Harper  &  Brothers,  New- York,  have  recently  issued 
a  new  and  complete  Catalogue  of  their  Publications,  which 
will  be  forwarded  free  of  charge  to  any  part  of  the  United 
States,  upon  application  to  them  personally,  or  by  mail, 
post  paid.  The  attention  of  gentlemen  forming  Libraries, 
either  public  or  private,  is  particularly  solicited  to  this 
Catalogue,  which  comprises  about  fifteen  hundred  \o\ames, 
embracing  the  best  works  in  the  several  departments  of 
Literature,  including  History,  Philosophy,  Science  and 
Art,  Biography,  Travel,  the  Classics,  Belles-Lettres,  Re- 
ligion, Medicine,  Classical  and  School  Books,  &c. ;  the 
works  being  neatly,  and  in  many  instances  elegantly 
printed  and  substantially  bound,  yet  offered  at  the  lowest 
terms,  averaging  less  than  one  half  the  price  of  the  Eng- 
lish editions.  Persons  wishing  to  form  libraries  or  to  pur- 
chase books  to  sell  again,  will  be  supplied  on  the  best 
terms  when  the  money  accompanies  the  order. 

March,  1846.     82  Cliff-street,  New-York. 


(  ft 


UNIVERSITY  OF  CALIFORNIA  LIBRARY 

Los  Angeles 
This  book  is  DUE  on  the  last  date  stamped  below. 


I 


DEC  19  1989 


.■*ff 


JIUN07W 


)0m-7,'69(N296s4) — C-120 


'%] 


■^AaBAlNi 


'Ta  ^^^^•llBRARYa^         ^Ul 


^     'i?  i    it 


i)k*''m 


esj- 


Universily  ol  Calilofnia,  Los  *"9f '6S 


AA    000  413  223    9 


l^AOVUillJ-i''^ 


L  005  835  233  7 


k5  iuor 


-jj 


iWNV-SOV 


IDNViu:- 

-od/\INn3Wv* 

>>- 

>. 

? 

■  r  imnAr)V/-i . 


tj 


u 


m 


"V 


-•3. 


>^HIBRARY,^' 


■ir^ 


,<.OFCALIF0/?^/^      ^OF-CALIFO/?^ 


M^ 


